EPISODE 149: SPACECRAFT THERMAL BLANKETS

Transcript

Andres Almeida (Host): Welcome to Small Steps, Giant Leaps, the podcast from NASA’s Academy of Program, Project and Engineering Leadership, or APPEL. I’m your host, Andres Almeida. Each episode dives into the lessons learned and experiences of the people behind NASA’s innovative missions and research. 

This is our second episode for our March celebration we call Engineering Month: Building Mission Success at NASA. It’s a time to celebrate the problem-solvers, innovators, and builders who turn bold ideas into reality. These are the engineers who tackle some of the toughest challenges in exploration.

Like people, every spacecraft needs a good blanket, one that can withstand the extreme cold, the Sun’s intense radiation, and impacts from micrometeoroids. At NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, Paula Cain is one of the skilled hands behind these essential layers of protection. As a thermal blanket technician, she works with engineers to design and fabricate the high-tech installation that keeps spacecraft safe from the harsh environments of space. 

In this episode, we’re talking with Paula, who formerly worked in fashion design, about the art and science of crafting these vital thermal blankets, the challenges of working with delicate materials and what it takes to prepare spacecraft for the journey beyond Earth. 

Paula, thanks for being with us today. 

Paula Cain: Sure!

Host: You have a pretty unique and important job at NASA. What does it entail? 

Cain: Well, I am a thermal blanket technician, and what it entails is anything that goes in space either needs a special coating or a blanket on it. 

And we here, or I here, at Goddard, make the blankets, and they’re called blankets. It’s layers of film, and we lay them out and shape them, form, and form them to whatever pattern we need, to whatever it’s covering, whether it be a satellite, a small instrument, or something larger. And it just helps regulate the temperature of whatever it is. 

Host: And that’s partially because of the harsh radiation from the Sun. So, what other factors go into the design and fabrication of thermal blankets? 

Cain: Sometimes we even have to put Kevlar, you know, like, what’s in the bulletproof vests, because there might be meteorites, just whatever the elements might be. Usually, our thermal engineers will do analysis and then come back and tell us how many layers and what substrate we need to use on the layups that we do. 

Host: And you have a background in fashion, do you see any parallels in your work with what you were doing before? 

Cain: Sure. Actually, my degree is in fashion design, and believe it or not, they are very similar. It’s just it’s a different-shaped body. So basically, I’m still patternmaking, I’m still designing. It’s just that it’s for a piece of hardware versus someone’s body. 

Still, with fashion, we had to shape and mold things to bodies, and I’m just shaping and molding them to, you know, a satellite. So, they’re very, very similar. 

Host: How do thermal blankets withstand the extreme conditions of space? Just how does it happen? 

Cain: Well, depending on what it is, the certain film, they have the best way to say, like, a scale of how much heat they can take. So, once they, once a thermal engineer does their analysis, that will determine, let’s say, whether they use Kapton or they use vacuum deposited aluminum, just depending on how cold or how hot, or if they want to keep it at a steady temperature. 

So, if you have Kapton, let’s say, and it’s touching the hardware, if the heat bounces to that, it’s going to keep it regulated, whereas if it’s a VDA (vacuum to deposit aluminum), it’s going to bounce that heat back to keep it warm. So, they just, they analyze all that, and then just tell us what to do. 

Host: How do you work with engineers and project managers to ensure thermal blankets meet mission requirements? 

Cain: We have discussions, plus we have a WOA. It’s a Work Authorization Order that they have mapped out everything that we need to do. It will tell us how many layers. It’ll tell us whether they wanted it to be a tight-fitting blanket or a loose-fitting blanket, what our “keep away” areas are – because you do have radiators sometimes, and they don’t want a blanket to go over that radiator, so we have to keep – they’ll tell us our “keep out” zones, that type of thing. And by doing all of that and keeping a close watch on that we can do it exactly how they want it. 

Host: So how do you test thermal blankets before they launch to ensure that they design as performed, as expected? 

Cain: Well, we have here in the building that I work in, and there’s other buildings that have different things, but we have, like a vibe chamber. There’s a table that’s down the hall. They actually put it on there, and they make it vibrate and shake to simulate what the same conditions are going to be. 

We have all these testings that we do to ensure that it can withstand what it’s going to go through when it’s launched, which I think that part is pretty cool, because you can – they’ll know ahead of time. 

So, we can make something and, like, we’ll know we need to make it more secure, so we need to add more (we call them buttons) that we attach to them. Add more buttons, or it needs to be secured with more tape. So, we know all that before it even goes up. 

Host: What was the mission you’ve worked on that was especially exciting or challenging? And I’m sure there’s more than one. 

Cain: Well, I think one of the most exciting and challenging was MMS. It’s the, I always say the name wrong, Magnetospheric Multiscale. I think I got it. 

Host: You did better than me. 

Cain: And that one was pretty interesting, because it was the first time ever they did four spacecrafts at the same time. So, we literally fabbed all four at the same time. They did everything at the same time, and it’s been successful so far. And it was just because it was one of a kind. I love things that are one of a kind, and they were stacked on top of each other. 

To me, it just, just the shape of it. Everything was just very interesting and cool about it, so. 

Host: Yeah, you like a nice, fun challenge. 

Cain: I do. I do. I really do. 

Host: What’s it like for you to see something that you’ve worked on, go to space and perform the way you and the project managers and engineers envisioned it and designed it? What’s that like? 

Cain: It’s exciting. I think it, it just makes you stick your chest out a little bit more, you know, because you know, you had a hand in that, and you helped to make it a success. 

The different projects I’ve worked on and in the things like, I know that some of the things I’ve worked on are at the International Space Station, and I think that’s pretty cool, because most people know about the International Space Station. 

So, you know, if you’re talking, you’re like, “Oh yeah, I have a blanket that’s up there, you know, or a few blankets.” They’re like, “Wow!” So, it makes you feel really good. 

Host: And I imagine every spacecraft varies with how many layers of the thermal blanket that it needs. 

Cain: Yeah, because you could have as, least amount is, let’s say, four layers. You could have up to 20 to 30 layers. And with what we do, whether it’s five to 30 layers, we have to shift the layers as we’re fabricating. So we shift the layers, then we cut. We actually use scalpels, just like a doctor, and cut our blankets with that, and then tape them up. So, yeah, it can get it can get really intricate. 

Host: About how many people are on your team who work directly on the same thing you do? 

Cain: Um, we, there’s about six of us now. Yeah, I’m counting. Yes, about six of us now. It varies. At one point there was 13 of us in here, so it just depends on the timing and how many projects we have. 

Host: Sure, and you must work closely with the, with the engineering teams. 

Cain: Oh, most definitely. We couldn’t do what we do without them, because they’re the ones who give us the direction and tell us how many layers what we need to do. 

So, it’s always good having a good engineer who will spell out everything for you or be available, you know? 

Host: And I gotta say, it’s interesting hearing you do this interview from Goddard right now. I can hear work in the background underway. 

Can you share an example of a time when close collaboration with engineers and project managers helped solve something challenging? 

Cain: Sure. Well, actually, it’s going on right now. I’m working on Roman Telescope, and we’re doing the thrusters right now. And it’s, it’s surprising how things work hand in hand. 

We have protective covers that stay on the thrusters until they launch. So, when I fabbed the blankets and put them on, we realized that the covers aren’t fitting. The protective covers aren’t fitting correctly, now. So, I was able to talk to my thermal engineer, and they are going to rework the cover so that it will fit, which is good, because sometimes they could say, “Oh no, you’ve got to change your whole blanket,” which we don’t want to do that. 

So, working, and we’re all working together hand in hand to see how we can give the cover more space so that the blanket can, I want to say “breathe” but it doesn’t breathe, but so it can move around in there and be okay and not be squished. 

So, if I didn’t have the thermal engineer, didn’t have some of the other people working together on that, we would be at a standstill. So it’s good that we can just call them right away, and they’re right there to help us with that, and that it’s just anything, even the day to day. You go to put something on, and there’s extra harnessing to be able to call your thermal engineer, or anyone who’s working with that harness, and then be able to work it out and get it moved so you can fit your blanket correctly – it’s a lifesaver. 

We couldn’t do what we do without them. We work, we work hand in hand together. There’s no other way to say it, yeah. 

Host: What are some other considerations for engineers and project managers as a spacecraft design moves forward? 

Cain: I think that blankets, as far as what we do, we should be in it from the beginning, meaning that when they’re planning things out, I think blankets should be a consideration. 

You think of the scientific side and all that, but you don’t think about the fact that blankets and blankets have to fit into these small areas. So, I hope in the future, when we’re designing, they think about, “Oh, instead of giving a 1/16th of an inch gap, maybe we’ll give a little bit more so that blanket can fit in there easily.”

Those type of things. I think in the future that we need to think about that a little bit more. I think it’s getting better from when I first started, but I just think that that’s something that should be thought of. And I mean, engineers and other people, we have a good relationship, a good communication, and I think that could just grow bigger and better. 

Host: Yeah, yeah, and it often comes up that communication is just as important as nearly anything else on a project. 

Cain: Communication is one of the most important things because when you’re working with different groups, and they don’t communicate with each other, sometimes you go in and put a blanket on and they’re like, “Why are you here? We’re not ready for you,” because no one told them that this was a set date to do this. So, I think communication, working together with different departments. I think that’s the only way, you know, we’re gonna continue to be better. 

Host: Yeah, even just using shared language. 

Cain: Most definitely. Yeah, I’m known for saying, if I don’t know this name of something, call it a “thingamajigger” [laughter] and I know that that’s not the best way, but you know! So, usually I’ll find out the proper name, but yeah. We need to all call it the same thing, 

Host: What was your giant leap? Or what has your giant leap been so far?  

Cain: I think my giant leap, it would be just from the beginning, when I started. Because when I started, I was working at home, designing clothes, and I also have a cosmetologist license, so I was doing that as well. And I just decided to switch over here. 

I saw the interview, the, I should say, the classified ad for the job. And if I had gone with my first instinct, I would have thought, “Oh, no, I can’t do that. That’s not for me. You know, I’m not a scientist or anything like that.”

So, I think my giant, that was my giant leap: Taking the chance and going for the interview and getting the job and deciding to stay. When I first got the job, I said, “Oh, I’ll stay about three to five years, and then I’ll go do something else.” And now I’ve been here 15, 16 years – and still loving it. 

Host: Wonderful. I love that you mentioned classified ads, too. 

Cain: [Laughter] Yeah, I’m dating myself, how old I am. 

Host: Well, Paula, thank you for sharing your time with us today. 

Cain: Thank you. It was really a pleasure. 

Host: That’s it for this episode of Small Steps, Giant Leaps. For more on Paula Cain and the topics we discussed today, visit our resource page at appel.nasa.gov. That’s A-P-P-E-L dot nasa dot gov. And don’t forget to check out our other podcasts like Houston, We have a Podcast, Curious Universe and Universo Curioso de la NASA. Thanks for listening, 

Outro: 3-2-1. This is an official NASA podcast.