Development of a Bearingless Ammonia Pump for Spacecraft Thermal Control

Abstract : The potential increase in payload capability of Navy/DoD spacecraft resulting from advances in electronics miniaturization cannot be realized without concurrent advances in thermal management. More and more heat-dissipating electronics have to be packaged tightly in a smaller volume to compete with the other subsystems for limited spacecraft "real estate." In a recent study, projection for the thermal requirement of future Navy spacecraft is about ten times that of today. Current state-of-the-art technologies simply will not meet this demand. Accordingly, NRL's Spacecraft Engineering Department (SED) acquired external sponsorship to initiate a research and development effort in FY2007 in pursuit of an ammonia bearingless pump that enables the Thermal Control Subsystem (TCS) to enhance its heat transport capacity at least tenfold while retaining other operational attributes (e.g., reliability and long life).