A review of thermal vacuum chamber capability performance at acceptance test level

The development of Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test Centre at Malaysia Space Centre is another step taken by Malaysia Space Agency (also known as ANGKASA) in developing the space sector in the country. The centre provides a facility for assembly and integration of satellite as well as the launch and environmental testing for local and others countries in South East Asia region. It comprises of various test equipment such as thermal vacuum chamber, vibration test system, electromagnetic chamber, acoustic chamber, mass properties measurement system and alignment measurement system. The thermal vacuum chamber is customized and the only chamber available in the country. It is capable to simulate space environment with high vacuum capabilities and wide range of heating and cooling capabilities. The system design review for the chamber was done in 2006 and its components have been delivered from Italy in 2007. However, due to some technical issues, the delivery to the site was delayed and the system had been stored in warehouse for almost three (3) years. Fortunately, at the end of 2009, the lab construction started and the system was able to be delivered at Malaysia Space Centre in 2010. The installation process including integration, assembly, testing and commissioning had been taking place in 2012 until 2014. Finally, in the middle of the year 2014, the system was successfully installed, commissioned and tested. In order to ensure the system complies the specification and can performs the required test, the acceptance test was conducted at the end of the commissioning phase. In this paper, the acceptance test result will be discussed in order to see the performance of the thermal vacuum chamber. This paper is organized as follows: Section II provides overview of thermal vacuum chamber; Section III describes of methodology used; Section IV discusses the result and finally, Section V provides summarization of findings.