Service Module thermal control

The main body, where all the heat dissipating units are installed on the side and floor panels. The external radiators are finished with silvered FEP teflon tape. Multi-Layer-Insulation (MLI) blankets cover all the other faces of the main body to minimise the heat flow. Internally the panel and the electronics units are black painted to maximise the radiative exchanges.

The batteries, directly mounted on a radiator plate and enclosed in a compartment, which is thermally insulated from the rest of the spacecraft.

The propulsion equipment, conductively insulated from the spacecraft; the tanks and piping are temperature controlled using MLI and heaters.

The solar array, which once deployed, provides its own thermal control (using passive means such as MLI and adequate thermal finishes). Active thermal control (heaters) is used only during the period after the separation of the spacecraft from the launcher and up to the completion of the solar array deployment.