The Advanced Camera for Surveys is a third generation instrument scheduled for installation into the Hubble Space Telescope during a 1999 Space Shuttle servicing mission. ACS, along with the previously installed STIS and NICMOS, consume significantly more power than the first generation of instruments. Additionally, the larger apertures of these instruments make parallel operations scientifically exciting. These parallel operations result in all of the instruments being in their higher power operate states simultaneously for extended periods of time. These factors have resulted in much higher temperatures inside the Aft Shroud where the ACS will be installed. As a result, new approaches are required to transfer heat inside the instrument and reject it away from the telescope. This paper will describe the unique thermal system design of the ACS which includes capillary pumped loops (CPL) and flexible and rigid heat pipes.
Keywords: HST Advanced Camera, heat transfer, thermal design
Brief Biography, Principal Author:
Marc Rafal received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University. He is currently Experiment Manager for the Advanced Camera For Surveys at the Space Telescope Science Institute. He has more than twenty years experience designing and managing development programs for instruments for ground- and space-based astronomy, medical instruments and industrial products.
Back to publication list
ACS home page