2017/01/25 by Salil Rabade, Rabade, Salil, Jekan Thangavelautham +1
Engineering · #Adsorption and Cooling Systems #FOS: Electrical engineering #FOS: Physical sciences #Heat Transfer and Optimization #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies #Spacecraft Design and Technology #Spacecraft Dynamics and Control #Spacecraft and Cryogenic Technologies #Systems and Control (eess.SY) #electronic engineering #information engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1701.09076
openalex publication_date 2017/01/25 · openalex created_date 2022/10/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Advances in GNC, particularly from miniaturized control electronics,\nreaction-wheels and attitude determination sensors make it possible to design\nsurface probes and small robots to perform surface exploration and science on\nlow-gravity environments. These robots would use their reaction wheels to roll,\nhop and tumble over rugged surfaces. These robots could provide 'Google\nStreetview' quality images of off-world surfaces and perform some unique\nscience using penetrometers. These systems can be powered by high-efficiency\nfuel cells that operate at 60-65 % and utilize hydrogen and oxygen electrolyzed\nfrom water. However, one of the major challenges that prevent these probes and\nrobots from performing long duration surface exploration and science is thermal\ndesign and control. In the inner solar system, during the day time, there is\noften enough solar-insolation to keep these robots warm and power these\ndevices, but during eclipse the temperatures falls well below storage\ntemperature. We have developed a thermal control system that utilizes chemicals\nto store and dispense heat when needed. The system takes waste products, such\nas water from these robots and transfers them to a thermochemical storage\nsystem. These thermochemical storage systems when mixed with water (a waste\nproduct from a PEM fuel cell) releases heat. Under eclipse, the heat from the\nthermochemical storage system is released to keep the probe warm enough to\nsurvive. In sunlight, solar photovoltaics are used to electrolyze the water and\nreheat the thermochemical storage system to release the water. Our research has\nshowed thermochemical storage systems are a feasible solution for use on\nsurface probes and robots for applications on the Moon, Mars and asteroids.\n