Ultralight fabric reflux tube thermal vacuum testing

Abstract

Five Ultra light Fabric Reflux Tubes (UFRTs) were tested in a thermal vacuum chamber at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Johnson Space Center in September 1994. These test articles were design and fabricated by staff at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory, operated by Battelle Memorial Institute for the United States Department of Energy, using Advanced Ceramic Fabric technology for utilization on a manned lunar colony. The UFRTs will be used as the principle heat rejection device for thermal control of habitat and equipment modules for a long-term mission to the lunar surface. The UFRTs were tested under various lunar thermal environments for normal and transient operability, including nominal startup, frozen startup, nominal steady state, and rapid shutdown conditions. This document provides a background on the lunar colony thermal design requirements, Advanced Ceramic Fabric technology status, space-based thermal management history and theory, the UFRT design description, test program, test results, and some conclusions and recommendations.