Ignition to Splashdown, A Comprehensive Review of the Micro-Gravity Sediment Trap Flight Experiment

Le résumé fourni par la source

Pumped Fluid Loops (PFLs) are a crucial thermal management technology, enabling satellites and manned spacecraft, like the International Space Station (ISS), to operate reliably in the extreme environment of space. Studies show for PFL failures in Western spacecraft (˜17%), about half of the failures are due to cloggage from debris in the system, pushing the need for filtration research in microgravity environments. Current state-of-the-art (SOTA) solutions rely on using sieve type filters or sintering to catch debris in the fluid lines. Over time, the filters get filled with debris and incur high pressure drop across the device increasing the risk of a system failure. The Micro-Gravity Sediment Trap (MGST) is a high-efficiency passive filtration alternative to either aid or potentially replace active filtrations components in PFLs. MGST has a low pressure drop compared to active filters because there are no bypass lines and orifices to increase that pressure in the component. A flight unit was designed and constructed to validate MGST in a micro-gravity environment on ISS. The on-orbit results would then be compared to a ground experiment that was conducted with the final design of MGST (particle trapping efficiency >94%). This paper focuses on the flight unit design, flight operations, post-flight analysis, and results gathered from the on-orbit test. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. Public Affairs release approval # AFRL-2026-2021

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.