📋 Tender Overview
Mainstream has developed a single-loop vapor compression thermal control system VCTCS to replace currently-used two-loop Thermal Control Systems TCSs.NASA uses two-loop TCSs to mitigate crew toxicity risk whereby one loop collects heat within a crew module with a low-toxicity fluid and transfers the heat to a second loop in the external module that rejects heat through the radiators. This architecture is used for crew but comes with a mass penalty due to the duplication of prime movers pumps mass of the intermediate heat exchanger and extra radiator surface area to account for the additional temperature difference required for the intermediate heat exchange process.The two-loop mass penalty is a driving force toward reducing the TCS to a single working fluid. However the toxicity risk must be mitigated for this architecture to be realized. Mainstream will be demonstrating a single loop TCS architecture that has toxicity mitigating technology. This technology has specific NASA applications including future Orion-like manned missions Deep Space Gateway and Transport missions and lunar habitation modules. Any manned space vehicle would benefit from the expected weight and crew safety advantage offered by this new TCS.
