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Manufacturing
Manufacturing capabilities and facilities are reflected in a heritage in mechanisms, structures, and thermal management for spaceflight systems. ATK is the world leader in the manufacture of two-phase thermal management for spaceflight applications. Major two-phase products include Constant Conductance Heat Pipes (CCHP), Variable Conductance Heat Pipes (VCHP), Capillary Pumped Loops (CPL), and Loop Heat Pipes (LHP). Integrated system solutions are provided through our manufacture of metallic and composite components and assemblies, embedded heat pipes, equipment panels and radiators, deployable radiators, and deployable mechanisms and systems. Our manufacturing facilities are complemented by extensive engineering office space and CAD/CAE/CAM systems, integration cleanrooms, laminar flow benches for special purpose assembly, and labs devoted to optical engineering and contamination control. ATK's Beltsville, Maryland, primary manufacturing facilities comprise more than 100,000 sq. ft. and are summarized in the table.
ATK's manufacturing processes are ISO 9001 certified and are based on NASA's SPAR3 requirements for spaceflight hardware. Of equal importance to ISO certification and ongoing continuous process improvement programs is the proven quality of our work. For example, because of the criticality of cleaning processes and working fluid purity from non-condensable gases to CCHP performance, our heat pipes have such a consistent level of quality that our regular customers accept lot testing rather than testing at the unit level.
| Facility |
Description |
| Thermal Products Facility |
Complete fabrication, assembly, and test lab for CCHPs, VCHPs, CPLs, and LHPs
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Thermal Blanket Laboratory
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Class 100K Multilayer Insulation (MLI) fabrication facility |
Structures/Integrated
Products Facility |
Facilities for layup of composite skins, tubular struts, I-beams, and other structural shapes. Facilities for assembly of honeycomb panels and integration of thermal management and mechanisms with structural elements
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| Machine Shop |
Fully equipped machining and sheet metal fabrication facility including CNC milling centers and KOMO 3 Axis CNC Router
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Coatings and Paint
Facility |
Priming and Alodine Chemical Conversion. Full capability for thermal coatings including customized paint formulation
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Materials Test
Laboratory |
Facilities for testing compressive strength and modulus, tensile strength and modulus, viscosity testing, gel time, resin tack flow, hardness, and fiber volume void content
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Shipping and Receiving ⁄
Receiving Inspection |
Automated CMM inspection stations and optical comparators; Material control function includes stocked items and flight and non-flight storage |
In addition to the continuous flow of CCHP orders, we produce and deliver integrated products for the majority of the major communications satellite manufacturers. A sampling of major manufacturing projects include
- SO Heat Pipe Radiator System (SOHPRS) delivered to Boeing for the International Space Station—the largest spaceflight radiator ever built
- Retrofit cooling systems for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) and the Aft Shroud of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) installed during an Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) servicing mission
- Optical bench for the Wide Field Camera-3 delivered to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for installation in a planned servicing mission on the HST
- Design qualification testing and flight production of Loop Heat Pipes deployable radiator systems for commercial GEO communications satellite application
- Spacecraft structure and integrated solar array for Earth Observing-1 (EO-1), ATK in-house spacecraft and the first of the earth-observing projects for NASA's New Millennium Program technology demonstration missions
- Commercial Payload Tower precision assembly comprised of more than 50 composite panels with wet layup joints
The fully integrated EO-1 spacecraft was delivered to NASA/GSFC; it launched successfully in November 2000 and has been performing nominally—meeting all mission success criteria.
A constellation of five satellite buses and a dispenser system was developed and delivered to U of C Berkeley in support of the NASA MIDEX Mission—THEMIS (Time History of events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms).
Contact
space@atk.com
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