The ESATAN-TMS Python Application Programming Interface (API) was first released in 2022 and enables the development of plugins to interact with a thermal model in ESATAN-TMS Workbench. The 2023 release included additional features such as model tree traversing and easier access to symbol attribute data. The API has enabled workflows such as: automation of repetitive tasks, connections with other tools, calls to fetch data, parametric modeling of thermal hardware, and integration of complex physical models. Moreover, plugins can launch a simple Graphical User Interface (GUI) within ESATAN-TMS to edit user parameters. This paper presents application cases of Python plugins developed in the thermal analysis group at ESTEC, ESA. The first application demonstrates how the API can be used to construct a parametric honeycomb panel. The plugin builds a honeycomb from an existing quadrilateral surface and handles the associated bulk material calculations. The second application case is a lunar toolbox consisting of three plugins to set-up a thermal environment model for lunar surface analysis. These plugins interface with the geometry, radiative, and thermal parts of ESATAN-TMS. The first plugin creates detailed surface meshes for a given lunar landing site using Lunar Digital Elevation Model (LDEM) data. The second plugin fetches solar system ephemeris data from the ESA Spacecraft, Planet, Instrument, C-matrix, and Events (SPICE) service. Then, inserts this data as vectors of solar azimuth and elevation for a given landing site and epoch into a radiative case. The third lunar plugin applies a lunar thermal regolith model to a selection of primitives to model the transient thermal behavior of the lunar surface. The plugins are complimentary and can be used to model the lunar surface environment of a given landing site. To conclude, feedback is given on the current Python API implementation and potential feature requests are discussed.
Vaughan et al. (Sun,) studied this question.