With the development of the Cubesat Support Facility (CSF), the European Space Agency reinforces its capabilities to support the development of nanosatellites in collaboration with European universities. Nanosatellites are satellites composed of units of 10x10x10cm. Due to their relatively low cost and fast development cycles, they are widely adopted by government agencies, commercial companies and universities for a.o. technology demonstration missions, educational projects, scientific experiments, and for future large-scale satellite constellations. At the CSF, universities developing nanosatellites are supported by ESA experts to integrate and test their spacecraft, applying standard practises adopted in ESA and the European space industry.
The thermal vacuum chamber developed by ATT/Akron allows to recreate the temperature and pressure conditions that the spacecraft will endure during their operational mission. Through so-called thermal vacuum / thermal cycling, and thermal balance tests, the thermal behaviour of parts is analysed and characterised, thermal models are validated, and the spacecraft system functions are tested at different temperature extremes under vacuum. Thus, the chamber allows to simulate the cyclic exposure to Sun and outer space, passing through hot and cold extremes, as the satellites orbit the Earth. Those tests form a crucial step in their preparation for launch.
AKRON & Angelantoni are very proud to be a part of this project.