Thermal Control
The subsystem that keeps every part of a spacecraft within its allowable temperature range, radiating away waste heat and insulating against the extreme cold of space and the heat of the Sun.
Components
- Heater & Heat PipeComponent
Electric heaters and passive heat pipes that keep components — propellant lines, batteries, instruments — above their minimum temperatures, moving heat from where it is made to where it is needed or shed.
- Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI)Component
The shiny, quilted blankets that wrap most spacecraft — many thin reflective layers that block radiative heat transfer, insulating against both the Sun's heat and the cold of space.
- RadiatorComponent
A surface that sheds a spacecraft's waste heat into space by infrared radiation — the only way to cool in a vacuum, where there is no air to carry heat away.
Knowledge connections
- ContainsRadiator
- ContainsMulti-Layer Insulation (MLI)
- ContainsHeater & Heat Pipe
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
- ESAEuropean Space Agency
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.