US 11,718,424 B2
Spacecraft and spacecraft protective blankets
Eric S. Mindock, Playa del Rey, CA (US); Richard W. Aston, Brea, CA (US); Anna Maria Tomzynska-Engers, Seal Beach, CA (US); and Raynaldo Santiago, Jr., Hawthorne, CA (US)
Assigned to The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed by The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed on Apr. 17, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/387,204.
Prior Publication US 2020/0331640 A1, Oct. 22, 2020
Int. Cl. B64G 1/58 (2006.01); H05B 3/00 (2006.01); H05B 3/14 (2006.01); H05B 3/34 (2006.01)
CPC B64G 1/58 (2013.01) [H05B 3/0014 (2013.01); H05B 3/145 (2013.01); H05B 3/34 (2013.01); H05B 2203/011 (2013.01); H05B 2214/04 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A protective blanket for a spacecraft, the protective blanket comprising:
a flexible blanket body comprising a plurality of sheets of material operatively coupled together to define the flexible blanket body, wherein the plurality of sheets comprises one or more sheets composed at least in part of a carbon nanotube material and at least one sheet composed of a different material; and
a voltage supply electrically coupled at least to a first sheet of the one or more sheets composed at least in part of the carbon nanotube material, such that the first sheet defines a resistive heater;
wherein the first sheet comprises:
a carbon-nanotube-sheet body;
a first set of terminals coupled to and spaced along the carbon-nanotube-sheet body adjacent one edge of the carbon-nanotube-sheet body; and
a second set of terminals coupled to and spaced along the carbon-nanotube-sheet body adjacent an opposite edge of the carbon-nanotube-sheet body.