The results are presented of a thermal balance test performed at subsystem level on the thermal model of EURECA (EUropean REtricvable CArrier) in the ESTEC LSS Vacuum Chamber.
The test article, thermally representative of the most relevant items of the flight unit, was equipped both with “passive” thermal control hardware (MLI blankets, heaters) and “active” thermal control hardware (fluid loop, cold plates, radiators).
This test consisted of several phases with different functioning conditions. Solar lamps and heated plates were used to reproduce solar, albedo and IR fluxes.
The analysis of the test results confirmed the adequacy of the thermal control design, in particular, of the key items of the fluid loop and MLI, while an extensive correlation campaign validated the thermal mathematical model.