ACT Awarded Contract to Support Lunar-Night Survival Thermal Management System
October 5th, 2023 – Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) announced today that they have been awarded a contract for the design of thermal control hardware by Canadensys Aerospace Corporation for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)’s Lunar Rover Mission (LRM). Canadensys was selected by the Government of Canada as the prime contractor for the design and build of the country’s first lunar rover, which is part of the Canadian Space Agency’s Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP). LRM is a south-pole lunar rover mission designed to last multiple Earth months, during which time it will experience lunar “night” periods of between 100 and 354 hours in duration, with some operations in permanently shadowed regions. The 30 kg lunar rover will be sent to the moon’s south pole region as soon as the Fall of 2026.
Depending on their thermal sensitivity and qualification, internally-housed electronics are kept either in the tightly thermally insulated warm box or mounted to unprotected areas such as the bottom structure panel, or the underside of the top radiator, collectively known as the cold box. Passive thermal technology is desired to thermally couple the electronics throughout the rover to the radiator. The warm box is actively heated through the lunar night to maintain survival temperatures.
During the design phase, ACT will investigate several thermal approaches, including “refluxing” Constant Conductance Heat Pipes (CCHP) used as gravity-assisted thermosyphons, along with their proven Space Copper Water Heat Pipe (SCWHP) technology.
About Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc.
Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) is a premier thermal management solutions company, providing design and manufacturing services to meet our customers’ needs across all points of the product lifecycle. We serve our global customers’ thermal management and energy recovery needs in diverse Industries including Defense, Aerospace, Electronics, HVAC, Medical, Enclosure Cooling, and Calibration Equipment. We specialize in providing innovative and performance-optimized thermal management technologies and solutions that meet the unique needs of each customer. For additional information about Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. visit www.1-ACT.com.