Ultra-lightweight Aerogel Superinsulation for SBL IFX

"A significant investment is made each year in the continued development of increasingly robust and sophisticated heating/cooling technologies for future utilization in a ballistic missile technology program or a major defense acquisition program. However,the effectiveness of thermal management systems is often directly related to the performance of insulation components utilized in their design. Accordingly, the commercial availability of (completely passive) thermal super-insulation material is anessential step toward realizing BMDO goals for thermal management on missile defense systems. In addition to protecting sensitive structures and subsystems from direct solar heating, some space platforms for missile defense will require years of storageof large amounts of cryogen with minimum cryogenic loss. For instance, the Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment (SBL IFX), scheduled for deployment in the 2012 time-frame, has requirements to protect sensitive optical components as well as otherstructural components (fluid storage tanks) from excess heating due to exposure to the Sun and the Earth's albedo. Lightweight thermal insulation materials will enable the thermal subsystem of the SBL IFX to minimize power consumption while maintainingcritical temperature control of key components without exceeding launch vehicle lift capabilities. Aerogel superinsulation systems will find use on critical structures of the space-basedlas