Characterization of a Temperature Measurement System for Use in Vacuum

Abstract

Thermal vacuum tests must be performed to ensure the survivability of the spacecraft during the development and performance validation stages. To carry out these tests, vacuum compatible temperature sensors are placed on different sub-systems of a spacecraft in a vacuum chamber. For the reliability of this test, the temperature sensors to be used need to be calibrated. This work, therefore, aims at improving the temperature measurement system currently used for thermal vacuum testing at the Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu. A suitable vacuum compatible sensor was selected and calibrated in the climatic chamber using the existing measurement system available at the observatory and a new measurement system introduced in this work. Both measurement systems were characterized, and measurement and uncertainty models were designed and estimated for the measurements carried out both in the climatic chamber and in the vacuum chamber.