Design and simulation of a radiometer prototype for thermal control coating characteristic on-orbit test

To verify the effectiveness of ground simulation test of thermal control coating performance degradation, a design scheme for the radiometer principle prototype is proposed, which uses calorimetry to realize on-orbit test of thermal control coatings. By analyzing the space heat flux that the on-orbit radiometer receives, a calculation model for testing solar absorptance of the coatings is established according to energy conservation principle. Based on this mathematical model, the radiometer structure was designed. The thermal simulation was conducted for the key components of the radiometer structure using ANSYS software. The radiometer SR107 thermal control coating was tested in an isoperibol using the radiometer. Experimental result shows that the difference between the tested solar absorptance and the calibration value for SR107 is within 3%, and the measurement uncertainty is 4.2%. Both simulation and experimental results show that the design of the radiometer principle prototype satisfies the requirement of thermal control coating on-orbit test.