Prerequisites of a successful environmental qualification are the sound knowledge for every possible stress scenario and of the environmental effects which might appear. Therefore, environmental qualification is an important part of space hardware development. It accompanies the development from the initial design stage to completion and final use. To obtain conclusive data of the electrical, mechanical and thermal behavior of a system, these properties are tested in simulation facilities under the specified environmental impacts taking into account the particular stress phases.
The space simulation laboratory comprises a thermal vacuum test chamber. The test chamber is optimized for optical instruments. It is located in an ISO 8 clean room. In front of the test chamber a 5 m2 laminar flow box ensures a clean environment better than ISO 8.
The thermal vacuum chamber is equipped with a window for optical calibration and testing with equipment in front of the door. The DESIS geometric properties (MTF) were measured under different temperatures in vacuum with the collimator outside.
The technical parameters of the thermal vacuum test chamber are:
Volume: 3.2 m3
Vacuum: 5´10-6 hPa at Qgas= 0.025 hPa l / s
Temperature of shroud: ~ 80 K (cooling/heating with liquid nitrogen and electrical heater)
