SAC-B Thermal Vacuum Test Chamber insertion
These photos show the SAC-B satellite being installed into the
Thermal Vacuum Test Chamber at INPE-LIT in June 1995. The
purpose of the Thermal Vacuum test is to verify that the satellite
will work correctly in the extreme temperatures and low pressures
experienced in space. The satellite is suspended from a test
fixture in the center of the tank, which is pumped out to a pressure
about a billion times smaller than atmospheric pressure. The entire
chamber wall can be heated and cooled to simulate the effects of
solar heating when the satellite is in sunlight and the cold of
outer space when the satellite is in the shadow of the Earth.
The satellite is operated over a wide range of temperatures designed
to simulate the extreme conditions expected in orbit in order to
verify that it will work correctly at those temperatures. It is
also cycled back and forth between hot and cold extremes to make
sure that nothing breaks during rapid external temperature changes.
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Last updated January 5, 1996
Web page maintained by
David Burrows
( burrows@astro.psu.edu )
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Penn State University