Thermal design of the instrument for the transiting exoplanet survey satellite

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20213684

The thermal design and analysis of space systems is an important application for the field of mechanical engineering. Space systems encounter harsh environments and often have exacting temperature and performance requirements. In this thesis, the thermal design and analysis process undertaken for the Instrument of Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is detailed. The TESS program is a two year NASA Explorer mission which uses four cameras to discover exoplanets via the transit photometry method. It will be placed in a high-earth orbit with a period of 13.7 days and will be unaffected by temperature disturbances caused by environmental heating from the Earth. The cameras use their stray-light baffles to passively cool the cameras and in turn the CCDs in order to maintain operational temperatures. It is a payload which encompasses four cameras that have unique thermal requirements which the system was designed to accommodate. These requirements include large power level uncertainty, highly stable temperatures, low temperature CCDs and a compact mechanical design.