How do I install the Thermal Design skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add ashfordeou/thermal-design in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Thermal Design safe to use?

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Which AI agents work with Thermal Design?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Thermal Design free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under Apache-2.

Who published Thermal Design?

ashfordeOU (@ashfordeou) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Thermal Design by ashfordeou — Agent Skill

Name: Thermal Design
Author: ashfordeOU

Thermal Design

Use when you must size the thermal control subsystem for a spacecraft: compute the radiator area from the Stefan-Boltzmann balance, solve the equilibrium radiator temperature for a heat load, and check the thermal margin against the dissipation budget. Produces the radiator sizing, the equilibrium temperature, and the margin verdict that gate the thermal design. Trigger: thermal design, radiator sizing, thermal balance, heat load, spacecraft thermal control.

ashfordeOU Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Spacecraft Thermal Design (space-systems/subsystems/thermal-design)

Use when the task is spacecraft thermal control design: radiator sizing, equilibrium temperature, and thermal margin checks against the dissipation budget.

Domain quick reference

A radiator dissipates heat to the environment by radiation: Q = eps * sigma * A * (T_rad^4 - T_sink^4).
The radiator must run hotter than the sink it radiates to, or the balance is physically wrong.
Equilibrium temperature follows from the same balance solved for temperature.
Thermal margin is the dissipation capacity beyond the required load; typical project bands require 10-20 percent.

Workflow

Collect the heat load, radiator temperature, sink temperature, and surface emissivity.
Size the radiator with radiator_area.
Solve the equilibrium temperature with equilibrium_temp.
Check the margin with thermal_margin_ok.
Gate the thermal design on the margin verdict.

Pitfalls

Sizing a radiator colder than its sink (negative net flow).
Ignoring emissivity degradation over life.
Treating absorbed heat as dissipated heat.

Behavior contract (gate 3)

The radiator, equilibrium, and margin logic is exercised by the gate 3 contract test: scripts/test_thermal_design.py against scripts/thermal_design_logic.py (stdlib unittest, offline). Run: python3 scripts/test_thermal_design.py

Compliance

Standards referenced, not reproduced: ECSS-E-ST-31 text is copyright ESA; the sizing here is common thermal physics, summary-only per standards-map.yaml.
compliance: STANDARDS-REF, gated: false.

---name: thermal-designdescription: Use when you must size the thermal control subsystem for a spacecraft: compute the radiator area from the Stefan-Boltzmann balance, solve the equilibrium radiator temperature for a heat load, and check the thermal margin against the dissipation budget. Produces the radiator sizing, the equilibrium temperature, and the margin verdict that gate the thermal design. Trigger: thermal design, radiator sizing, thermal balance, heat load, spacecraft thermal control.license: Apache-2.0---# Spacecraft Thermal Design (space-systems/subsystems/thermal-design)Use when the task is spacecraft thermal control design: radiatorsizing, equilibrium temperature, and thermal margin checks againstthe dissipation budget.## Domain quick reference- A radiator dissipates heat to the environment by radiation: Q = eps * sigma * A * (T_rad^4 - T_sink^4).- The radiator must run hotter than the sink it radiates to, or the balance is physically wrong.- Equilibrium temperature follows from the same balance solved for temperature.- Thermal margin is the dissipation capacity beyond the required load; typical project bands require 10-20 percent.## Workflow1. Collect the heat load, radiator temperature, sink temperature, and surface emissivity.2. Size the radiator with radiator_area.3. Solve the equilibrium temperature with equilibrium_temp.4. Check the margin with thermal_margin_ok.5. Gate the thermal design on the margin verdict.## Pitfalls- Sizing a radiator colder than its sink (negative net flow).- Ignoring emissivity degradation over life.- Treating absorbed heat as dissipated heat.## Behavior contract (gate 3)The radiator, equilibrium, and margin logic is exercised by the gate3 contract test: scripts/test_thermal_design.py againstscripts/thermal_design_logic.py (stdlib unittest, offline). Run:python3 scripts/test_thermal_design.py## Compliance- Standards referenced, not reproduced: ECSS-E-ST-31 text is copyright ESA; the sizing here is common thermal physics, summary-only per standards-map.yaml.- compliance: STANDARDS-REF, gated: false.

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