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The ARTEMIS (Advanced Relay and TEchnology MISsion) satellite represents the first element of the Data Relay and Technology Mission Programme (DRTM) developed for the European Space Agency by Alenia Aerospazio (Italy) as the prime contractor. Although using conventional design features and limited mass, power, telemetry and tele-command budgets, the thermal control of the satellite matches the demands dictated by the peculiarities of the ARTEMIS mission such as the significant overall dissipation, the wide spectrum of payload operational scenarios and the relatively unbalanced distribution of payload equipment dictated by system and payload performance considerations. This paper describes the thermal control design solutions with special regard to consideration on ground testability of the system; the analytical approach to predict on-orbit thermal response; the policy adopted in terms of margins and analytical uncertainties.

The Minus Eighty (Degrees Celsius) Laboratory Freezer for the International Space Station (MELFI) is one of the freezers developed by ESA on behalf of NASA. Peculiar requirements for that facility are the long-term storage at low temperature, the rapid freezing of specimen to the required temperature, the large cold volume (300 l) and the low power consumption. To verify those requirements before the manufacturing of the flight hardware, a dedicated test campaign was performed on a ground model. This paper will start with a system overview, showing the main features of MELFI. The test set-up as well as their results will be presented and discussed, with particular emphasis on the methods used to predict the on-orbit (0-gravity) behaviour, by avoiding the sample internal convection and dewar internal convection during the test execution.

As part of the European contribution to the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), the European Robotic Arm (ERA) is designed under contract of the European Space Agency by Fokker Space as the Prime contractor. The particularly challenging aspect of the ERA thermal design is to enable ERA operation under all possible in-orbit thermal environmental conditions which are to be experienced throughout its 10 year life. These conditions can be between extreme cold without sunlight for hibernation to extreme hot with ERA operating in full sunlight in close vicinity to a large station item, for instance, the solar arrays. First a short description of the ERA system is given with a summary of the main thermal design features. The system level thermal balance test on the ERA Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) is intended to validate the system level thermal model, which consists of the subsystem thermal models as supplied by the respective subcontractors.