Heat balance research with a thin-walled cube in a simulated space environment

Heat balance research with a thin-walled cube was initiated to verify heat balance computer programs of the nodal network type. The heat balance experiments were carried out in a simulated space environment (inside a thermal-vacuum chamber with a liquid nitrogen cooled shroud, using a carbon arc solar simulator). The experimentally determined and the calculated temperature distributions agree very well when gas conduction inside the cube is included in the model. Supporting research to obtain input data for the heat balance experiments is described in the appendices. Included are an analytic solution for the heat balance of the cube, the measurement of the thermal conductivity of the cube wall material, the measurement of the thermal conductance of a rectangular bend in the wall material, the measurement of the thermal emissivity and solar absorptivity of the cube wall material, and a description of the calibration of the intensity distribution of the solar simulator beam.