YPSat successfully completed the initial thermal vacuum test campaign
The YPSat team completed the first thermal vacuum test campaign (TVAC) on the protoflight model in November, using the facilities in the Mechanical Systems Laboratory (MSL) at ESTEC. The main objective of the thermal vacuum test campaign was to correlate the spacecraft thermal mathematical model and to verify critical elements of the thermal control system (TCS) design. The results will further support the team in understanding the performance of the satellite and its various subsystems in the space thermal environment.
During the period of 3rd to the 16th of November, the first thermal vacuum test campaign for the YPSat has been successfully completed by the YPSat team. The test was held in the Mechanical Systems Laboratory at ESTEC. The purpose of this thermal balance-thermal cycling (TBTC) test was to gain valuable data for correlation of the thermal mathematical model developed by the YPSat thermal team.
The YPSat protoflight model was inactive during the test and a number of independently controlled test heaters were installed inside the spacecraft to simulate unit heat dissipations and to generate internal temperature gradients. The test procedure defined by the team was composed of steady-state phases to analyze Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) efficiency and internal conductance and transient phases to correlate thermal inertia and assess the thermal behavior of the Phase Change Material (PCM) heat capacitor employed as part of the spacecraft thermal system.
This effort was a collaboration between the YPSat thermal team Atdhe Kycyku (Thermal Lead), Sebastian Fix (Lead Systems Engineer), Anna Jasmin Theobald and Filip Soukup, the MSL team, namely Ayush Jain, Cyril Torreton, Nicolas Rieux and Stephane Roure (TEC-MTV) and the Thermal section staff, Romain Peyrou-Lauga, Malgorzata Solyga, Matthew Vaughan and Vito Laneve (TEC-MTT), whose support was essential to the success of the test campaign.
What's Next:
The data obtained from this test campaign will be vital for further refinement of the spacecraft thermal subsystem design and the basis for the final thermal test campaign planned for April, which will be carried out on a complete functional flight model.