Feles, Sebastian und Holbeck, Ilse Marie und Hauslage, Jens (2025) From Lab to Launchpad: A Modular Transport Incubator for Controlled Thermal and Power Conditions of Spaceflight Payloads. Instruments, 9 (3), Seite 21. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). doi: 10.3390/instruments9030021. ISSN 2410-390X.
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Offizielle URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/instruments9030021
Kurzfassung
Maintaining physiologically controlled conditions during the transport of biological experiments remains a long-standing but under-addressed challenge in spaceflight operations. Pre-launch thermal or mechanical stress induce artefacts that compromise the interpretation of biological responses to space conditions. Existing transport systems are limited to basic heating of small sample containers and lack the capability to power and protect full experimental hardware during mission-critical phases. A modular transport incubator was developed and validated that combines active thermal regulation, battery-buffered power management, and mechanical protection in a compact, field-deployable platform. It enables autonomous environmental conditioning of complex biological payloads and continuous operation of integrated scientific instruments during ground-based transport and recovery. Validation included controlled experiments under sub-zero ambient temperatures, demonstrating rapid warm-up, stable thermal regulation, and uninterrupted autonomous performance. A steady-state finite difference thermal model was experimentally validated across 21 boundary conditions, enabling predictive power requirement estimation for mission planning. Field deployments during multiple MAPHEUS® sounding rocket campaigns confirmed functional robustness under wind, snow, and airborne recovery scenarios. The system closes a critical infrastructure gap in spaceflight logistics. Its validated performance, modular architecture, and proven operational readiness establish it as an enabling platform for standardized, reproducible ground handling of biological payloads and experiment hardware.
elib-URL des Eintrags: | https://elib.dlr.de/216852/ | ||||||||||||||||
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Dokumentart: | Zeitschriftenbeitrag | ||||||||||||||||
Titel: | From Lab to Launchpad: A Modular Transport Incubator for Controlled Thermal and Power Conditions of Spaceflight Payloads | ||||||||||||||||
Autoren: |
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Datum: | 18 September 2025 | ||||||||||||||||
Erschienen in: | Instruments | ||||||||||||||||
Referierte Publikation: | Ja | ||||||||||||||||
Open Access: | Ja | ||||||||||||||||
Gold Open Access: | Ja | ||||||||||||||||
In SCOPUS: | Ja | ||||||||||||||||
In ISI Web of Science: | Ja | ||||||||||||||||
Band: | 9 | ||||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.3390/instruments9030021 | ||||||||||||||||
Seitenbereich: | Seite 21 | ||||||||||||||||
Herausgeber: |
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Verlag: | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) | ||||||||||||||||
ISSN: | 2410-390X | ||||||||||||||||
Status: | veröffentlicht | ||||||||||||||||
Stichwörter: | transport incubator; spaceflight hardware; sounding rocket; microgravity research; biological payloads; thermal regulation; environmental control; battery-buffered power supply | ||||||||||||||||
HGF - Forschungsbereich: | Luftfahrt, Raumfahrt und Verkehr | ||||||||||||||||
HGF - Programm: | Raumfahrt | ||||||||||||||||
HGF - Programmthema: | Technik für Raumfahrtsysteme | ||||||||||||||||
DLR - Schwerpunkt: | Raumfahrt | ||||||||||||||||
DLR - Forschungsgebiet: | R SY - Technik für Raumfahrtsysteme | ||||||||||||||||
DLR - Teilgebiet (Projekt, Vorhaben): | R - MAPHEUS C | ||||||||||||||||
Standort: | Köln-Porz | ||||||||||||||||
Institute & Einrichtungen: | Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin > Aeromedical FabLab | ||||||||||||||||
Hinterlegt von: | Anken, Ralf | ||||||||||||||||
Hinterlegt am: | 30 Sep 2025 11:01 | ||||||||||||||||
Letzte Änderung: | 30 Sep 2025 11:01 |
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