NASA launched the Hyperspectral Thermal Imager (HyTI), a satellite built in a collaboration between NASA JPL, the California Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL), on Thursday, March 21, at 4:55 PM Eastern. The 6U cubesat, launched on the SpaceX SpX-30 Dragon mission to the ISS, represents the next generation of high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution thermal infrared (TIR) imagery acquisition from LEO.
This is a tremendous achievement for the entire team, and especially our friends at HSFL, and TAI is proud to be a member of the mission. Our team of engineers and technicians delivered a set of our PyroFlex™ (pyrolytic graphite sheet) thermal straps to HSFL as part of TAI's University Showcase Program (which provides universities and national laboratories with thermal straps at significantly reduced pricing--or at no cost, in some cases--for important programs advancing the fields of physics, cryogenics, and space exploration or astronomy).
Pictured: HyTI with TAI's PyroFlex™ straps (wrapped in mylar sleeves), installed at the rear of the instrument.
TAI designed and manufactured these particular thermal straps for HSFL to meet their demanding waste heat removal requirements which could not be achieved with any other thermal strap material or product (given the extremely limited volume). As shown in the image above, the straps are connected between the radiator plates (above and below) and the heat-sink on the back of the IDCA expander, which extracts the heat from the coldfinger to cool the detector. The specific design was tailored to the available volume and mounting points, as well as the need for a non-rigid connection from the radiators to the IDCA heat-sink
To learn more about the HyTI mission and the next gen HOT BIRD infrared detectors that will be used on the next generation of NASA satellites, check out the story we highlighted a few years ago in our first blog on HyTI:
https://science.nasa.gov/technology/technology-highlights/the-bird-with-an-eagle-eye-for-infrared
Finally, the TAI team would like to thank our friends at HSFL and NASA, for the opportunity to make history with you! We greatly appreciate your business and taking the time to take part in the first University Showcase Program—the first to launch using our graphite thermal strap products.