Lunar Night Survivability of Cryocooled Instruments Using PALETTE Thermally-Switched Enclosures

The Planetary and Lunar Environment Thermal Toolbox Elements (PALETTE) project is developing improved thermal management techniques that will allow cryocooled and/or ambient temperature science payloads to survive multiple lunar day/night cycles. The targeted science payloads are those slated to fly on upcoming commercial lunar payload services (CLPS) landers, none of which will likely be able to survive the first lunar night. This paper will provide a status update on those techniques, which include thermally-switched enclosures supported by Vectran tension cables, 3D-printable parabolic reflector radiators (PRRs), “spacerless” MLI whose layers hang from the Vectran cables, advanced thermal isolators using optimized polymeric (and Ti64) designs, and a few others. The paper will include the latest test data from the PALETTE project, which is a three-year effort (initiated in April 2020) funded by the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Game Changing Development (GCD) program.