NASA MSFC

Design sensitivity of Lunar Lander Cryo Tank

Engineers were able to perform a sensitivity study in less than an hour using Veritrek, an effort that would have taken several hours using traditional techniques.

Thermal engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have successfully used Veritrek to perform sensitivity studies on one of their Lunar Lander thermal models as part of the Artemis program. Specifically, they were able to look at the amount of heat going into one of the lunar lander’s cryo tanks. They were interested in how the tank’s insulation, struts, and orientation affected the heat load into the cryo tank. Using Veritrek’s Screening Analysis and Surface Plot Analysis feature, it proved very easy to visualize how these parameters interacted with one another and determined the cryo tank’s heat load value. In addition, the sensitivity of this heat load value was quickly characterized. This has led to a better understanding of their complex thermal model. Engineers were able to perform this sensitivity study in less than an hour using Veritrek, an effort that would have taken several hours using traditional thermal analysis and visualization techniques. Traditional methods could have been used, but Veritrek provided more direct data-based information much faster.

Veritrek’s Screening Analysis was used to show how much of an impact the three parameters of interest had on the head load into the cryo tank. Veritrek’s Surface Plot Analysis was then used to understand the sensitivity of the cryo tank’s heat load to varying values of the two most uncertain parameters, the effective emissivity value of the tank and the rotation of the lander vehicle.

Actual TD model and thermal data not available for public release. Representative example shown.