Thermacore's k-CoreĀ® Capabilities Contribute to Historic Lunar Mapping Mission
LANCASTER, Pa., June 23 -- Advanced thermal technology design and fabrication capabilities from Thermacore (http://www.thermacore.com), a leading provider of advanced thermal solutions, helped make the recent historic orbital flight of the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) possible. During India's first moon mission, scientists made a breakthrough discovery: significant absorbed water on the moon. To help support this mission, Thermacore's k Technology Division provided reliable thermal solutions, which included sophisticated radiator panels and high performance thermal straps, along with design and fabrication services.
Thermacore's k Technology Division involvement began during the design phase as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) sought the most efficient and maintenance-free methods to dissipate heat from the M3's powerful and extremely sensitive electronics. These electronics enable the instrument to identify lunar minerals from orbit 100 km above the moon's surface. The k Technology Division helped JPL engineers develop thermal specifications for optimum rejection of high heat loads from the M3, and also worked with JPL to design a system that would work without the need for maintenance or adjustments.
Thermacore's solution involved six radiator panels, featuring their patented k-Core advanced high conduction composites, to reject excess heat out into space. Thermal straps, also fabricated by Thermacore's k Technology Division, were used as heat spreaders within the instrument. In addition, Thermacore's k Technology Division tested the completed components to ensure compliance with performance objectives.
"We are proud to have contributed to this historic space exploration milestone," said Jerome Toth, Thermacore president and CEO. "The M3 thermal solution is a real tribute to our advanced technological capabilities and engineering expertise, which allows us to meet the most rigorous specifications in the unique environment of outer space."
The M3 was the key component in Chandrayaan-1, India's first deep-space mission, launched on Oct. 22, 2008. In October 2009, the M3 made history by detecting absorbed water on the moon. This discovery suggests to scientists that there is much more water on the moon than previously believed.
About Thermacore
Founded in 1970, Thermacore specializes in the custom design, development, and manufacturing of highly engineered thermal management systems and components for a variety of OEM applications across a diversified set of global markets that includes Military/Aerospace, Computer, Communication, Energy Conversion, Medical, Transportation, Test Equipment, and Automotive. With over 40 years of experience in the design, development, and manufacturing of passive two-phase systems, Thermacore brings unparalleled engineering design expertise and thermal solution performance, quality, and reliability to these markets. Thermacore employs more than 180 employees at 5 facilities located in the United States (Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Langhorne, Pennsylvania, Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania, and Ronkonkoma Long Island, New York) and the United Kingdom (Ashington, Northumberland). Thermacore facilities are AS 9100 Rev B. standard, ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certified. For information about Thermacore, visit http://www.thermacore.com.
About the k Technology Division
The k Technology Division of Thermacore designs and manufactures custom thermal management products for cooling high power density electronic packaging and other applications requiring high performance heat transfer in the Military/Aerospace, Transportation, and Industrial markets. k Technology products include thermal cores, spreaders, straps, and protoflight components, many of which utilize k Technology's patented high thermal conductivity k-CoreĀ® material. k Technology is certified through Underwriters Laboratory (UL) to the ISO9001:2000 and AS9100 standards. k Technology has two facilities, the division headquarters in Langhorne, Pennsylvania and an engineering center in Ronkonkoma, New York (Long Island). For more information about the k-Technology Division, visit http://www.thermacore.com