Honeycomb Radiator Panels

Our Expertise

ACT’s aluminum Radiator Panels combine high-efficiency heat rejection with structural integrity, in an ultra-low-mass solution. Following our acquisition of Canyon Composites, ACT now extends its in-house thermal control expertise from chip to radiator panel, providing individual components and full system offerings for a fully optimized thermal resistance network.

With this unique vertical integration, ACT can be your single source for thermal + structural systems, reducing interface risks, simplifying contract management, and accelerating delivery schedules. Whether the final solution is simple structural panels, integrated CCHP panels, or fully deployable loop heat pipe panels, ACT has the solution to fit your requirements!

Heritage & Capabilities of Composite Structures

As part of ACT, the Canyon Composites legacy brings deep aerospace manufacturing roots and key credibility in the space community. Some highlights:

• Trusted by industry primes and space agencies
  Serving clients including Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and NASA in the fabrication of flight-critical structures.
• Extensive parts production experience
  Since its founding in 1995, Canyon has produced over 450,000 spacecraft and aerospace parts & assemblies. This experience, manufacturing tooling and process strengths allow ACT to provide quick solutions to the market.
• Structural assembly specialization
  Routinely building assemblies such as honeycomb structures, reflector frameworks, antenna / optical benches, trusses, and structural busses.
• Aerospace-grade assembly processes
  We employ paste adhesive bonding, liquid shim/tack bonding, UV curing, fasteners, insert bonding, and more—meeting prime-level specifications.
• Quality & precision infrastructure
  With in-house machining (including 5-axis capabilities), metrology, integration labs, and aerospace quality systems, we meet the exacting standards required for space hardware.

By folding this capability into ACT, we can now offer hybrid solutions: thermal control devices designed at Lancaster, structurally integrated by the former Canyon team, producing flight structures that double as radiator panels.

Features & Benefits

• Structural + Thermal Integration – Radiator panels serve dual roles as the spacecraft structural shell and as heat rejection elements.
• Reduced Mass– aluminum honeycomb panels provide the lowest mass option on the market.  
• Tailored Thermal Performance – High-conductivity face sheets, embedded CCHPs, and local customization in emissivity and thermal gradients.
• Scalable & Modular Designs – From CubeSat-class to GEO buses or deep-space craft, panels are modular and mission-specific.
• High Precision & Repeatability – Built with tight tolerances, precise tooling, and assembly fidelity inherited from Canyon’s aerospace practice.
• Proven Flight-Grade Processes – Leveraging Canyon’s flight hardware assembly experience and ACT’s thermal heritage to deliver qualified deliverables.
• Deployability– by leveraging Loop Heat Pipes with honeycomb panels, we can provide a needed benefit for tightly packaged and high-heat-load small sats.

Applications

These panels are ideal across a wide spectrum of space mission classes:

• Earth-orbiting Satellites (LEO, MEO, GEO) – for commercial, scientific, or defense payloads
• Deep Space Probes – for planetary missions, interplanetary spacecraft, and probes
• Crewed Systems – for modules, habitat segments, or thermal shells in human-rated spacecraft
• Space Telescope & Optical Platforms – combining structure and thermal surfaces in precision optical missions

Technical Capabilities

These are the performance levers we can infuse across thermal + structural domains:

Because ACT now handles thermal device design and manufacturing, the synergy ensures that all thermal, structural, and integration constraints are resolved early, rather than at vendor interfaces.

Why Choose ACT

• Engineering + Manufacturing: Thermal, Structural and system-level engineering complete with Thermal Desktop, coupled with high-quality manufacturing for countless approaches of passive and active thermal control plus, from the chip to the radiator surface.
• Single-Contractor Risk Mitigation — no finger-pointing between thermal and structure suppliers, agile and real-time schedule optimization.
• Faster Throughput — Full visibility on all major components in the thermal control system.
• Proven Aerospace Heritage — benefit from  decades of flight structure experience plus ACT’s thermal control pedigree

Related Solutions

• Loop Heat Pipes
• Constant Conductance Heat Pipes (CCHPs)
• Vapor Chambers
• Phase Change Material (PCM) Systems
• Structural Thermal Panels & Assemblies