Small spacecraft, including micro and nanosats, as they are envisioned for future missions, will require an alternative means to achieve thermal control due to their small power and mass budgets. One of the proposed alternatives is Variable Emittance (Vari‐E) Coatings for spacecraft radiators. Space Technology‐5 (ST‐5) is a technology demonstration mission through NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) that will utilize Vari‐E Coatings. This mission involves a constellation of three (3) satellites in a highly elliptical orbit with a perigee altitude of ∼200 km and an apogee of ∼38,000 km. Such an environment will expose the spacecraft to a wide swing in the thermal and radiation environment of the earth’s atmosphere. There are three (3) different technologies associated with this mission. The three technologies are electrophoretic, electrochromic, and Micro ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS). The ultimate goal is to make use of Vari‐E coatings, in order to achieve various levels of thermal control. The foc...