Engineers with the Air Force Research Lab’s materials and manufacturing directorate at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, say they have successfully integrated two existing technologies to create a new thermal control system for future satellites. The new active-temperature control system is compact and much lighter than state-or-the-art devices with similar functions, requires very little power, and has minimal data storage requirements. It combines an electrostatic radiator, developed by Sensortek, Inc., of Costa Mesa, Calif., and a heat-flux-based emissivity measuring method created by Advanced Thermal and Environmental Concepts, Inc., of College Park, Md. After testing in a large vacuum chamber, the system was included as part of NASA’s MISSE-6 on-orbit experiment that was carried into space in March by the Space Shuttle Endeavor. (Wright-Patterson report by Heyward Burnette)
The Pentagon plans to use U.S. Air Force C-17s and C-130s to deport 5,400 people currently detained by Customs and Border Protection, officials announced Jan. 22, the first act in President Donald Trump’s sweeping promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants and increase border security.