Technical Paper
In-Orbit Experience with Sciamachy Active Thermal Control Systems
2003-07-07
2003-01-2470
Sciamachy is a Dutch/German Earth Observation Instrument on board of the European Envisat satellite, which was launched on March 1st 2002. The goal of the instrument is to observe concentrations of multiple trace gases in the upper atmosphere. Due to the character of the instrument special thermal control methods have been incorporated in the instrument design. Amongst these are the active thermal control loops for the detector modules and the optical bench module. The 8 detector modules, which are cooled with a passive cooler to circa 150 - 240 K, are stabilized with three heaters that are controlled via telemetry. The optical bench module is provided with three feedback-controlled heater loops.
