Investigation of Insulation Materials for Future Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS)

Abstract

developing next generation high temperature insulation materials that directly benefit thermal management and improve performance of RPS for future science missions. Preliminary studies on the use of multilayer insulation (MLI) for Stirling convertors used on the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) have shown the potential benefits of MLI for space vacuum applications in reducing generator size and increasing specific power (W/kg) as compared to the baseline Microtherm HT (Microtherm, Inc.) insulation. Further studies are currently being conducted at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) on candidate MLI foils and aerogel composite spacers. This paper presents the method of testing of foils and spacers and experimental results to date.

Overview of Stirling Technology Research at NASA Glenn Research Center

“…Previous high temperature MLI testing at GRC employed circular flat radiation shields inside of a specially designed MLI testing chamber. 6 However, that geometry was more general in shape and did identify integration challenges for Stirling convertor test hardware. For recent testing, MLI was designed to fit the geometry of an ASC housing, shown in Figure 8.…”