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Thermal Control of CubeSats using Micro-structured Films

a passive film, modeled on the Saharan silver ant, to keep CubeSat electronics cool

project: 02 of 05
event: NASA SEES
credit: Research conducted through the NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Science internship, mentored by Bridget Kimsey.
links: Read the paper →

01the problem

CubeSats are shoebox sized with almost no mass budget for cooling hardware
AI chips on board run hot and absorbed sunlight adds to the load
radiation flips bits in memory and corrupts what the chip computes
radiation hardened parts exist but lag commercial chips badly on performance

sunlight and chip heat both land on a 1U frame

a charged particle flips one stored bit, after Cui, M., 2022

02the mechanism

the Saharan silver ant survives midday desert heat with no active cooling
its hairs have a triangular cross section that drives total internal reflection
the same geometry raises emission in the mid infrared
reflecting and radiating at once is exactly what a satellite face needs

light bouncing out of one triangular hair, after Shi, N. N. et al., 2015

Electron microscope images of the ant's hairs and their triangular cross section. Source: Shi, N. N. et al., 2015, Science. — Fig. 1. Electron microscope images of the ant's hairs and their triangular cross section. Source: Shi, N. N. et al., 2015, Science.

03the proposed film

replicate that triangular microstructure in a thin silicone film
mount on the minus Z face and couple it to the internal electronics
passive throughout, no power draw and almost no added mass

the film reflects sunlight and radiates heat, after Jung, J. et al., 2023

04results

research conducted through the NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Science Internship
paper published on SSRN and available to read
literature supports solar reflectance above 95 percent for this structure class
passive throughout, so it draws no power and adds almost no mass to the satellite