The project aims to develop a new class of satellite radiators for small- and medium size spacecrafts that combine beneficial features of existing concepts. Radiator panels are traditionally made of honeycomb sandwich panels or integrally milled metal. Both solutions have their main advantage. Honeycomb sandwich design provides the best stiffness-to-weight ratio, but offers poor protection against radiation and space debris. It is also less competitive compared to integrally milled version in terms of thermal performance and stability, which essential to maintain the temperature of attached hardware within the desired – sometimes very narrow – range. Integral radiators are featured by good thermal performance and protective capability due to the relatively thick radiative plate, but have limitations in terms of mechanical performance due to low stiffness-to-weight ratio especially in cases when large radiative area is required. The idea behind MSR concept is that there might be special cases, when engineers need to find a balance between the two conventional solutions. For example if enlargement of radiative area is required without mass and stiffness penalty and only a small increase of radiation dose can be tolerated by the attached hardware then radiator made of Aluminium Foam Sandwich (AFS) might be a good way to go. AFS panels represent the missing link between solid and sandwich structures. They have cellular core in the middle just like sandwich panels, which unlike honeycomb has isotropic properties and metallic bond with the skins similarly to bulk materials. In this study the viability of AFS radiator concept is investigated from technical and economical aspects.
