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The paper describes the design, development and testing of a Heat Transport System (HTS) for a Laser Communication Terminal (LCT) on the TerraSAR-X satellite. The HTS is based on the technology of Loop Heat Pipes (LHP) with variable heat conductance capability. Which maintains for this specific LCT payload component a constant temperature with a very small tolerance within a ≤0.5K range. For this new and challenging application an actively controlled bypass with a flow control valve has been developed. In a conventional application the valve works in a passive mode, i.e. it actuates automatically according to the saturation pressure of the loop's heat carrier fluid. With increasing evaporator temperature (or saturation pressure) the valve opens the bypass line in order to divert vapour from flowing to the radiator. If the evaporator temperature decreases then the valve regulates again an increasing flow to the radiator.

A study has been completed to investigate existing STEP protocols for the purpose of reliable routine CAD data exchange between companies involved in European space projects. The evaluation concentrated on STEP Application Protocols AP-203 and AP-214 because of their broad support and maturity. The study concluded that STEP AP 203 and 214 are sufficient mature to be introduced as CAD data exchange standard in European space industries. In the meantime a working group (WG) promoted by ESA (European Space Agency) has recently been created to establish relevant standards within the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS). This study has been presented to the WG and is considered as baseline to establish guidelines for product data exchange to be issued.