The Thermal Conditioning Unit from Telstar is an advanced thermal control system designed to precisely regulate temperature conditions within space simulation environments. It plays a critical role in thermal vacuum chambers by accurately replicating the extreme thermal conditions encountered during space missions, enabling reliable testing and validation of spacecraft components and subsystems. This system utilizes high-performance fluid recirculation technologies, including silicone oil and dense gaseous nitrogen (GN2), to ensure efficient and uniform thermal distribution.
The silicone oil configuration supports a temperature range from −90°C to +150°C, making it suitable for subsystem-level testing, while GN2-based operation extends the range from −180°C to +180°C, enabling full spacecraft testing and wide-range thermal cycling applications. The unit offers powerful thermal performance, with cooling capacities ranging from approximately 2.1 kW to 47 kW and heating power up to 54 kW in silicone oil-based systems, along with fluid flow rates up to 36 m³/h. GN2-based configurations provide nominal gas flow rates from 170 m³/h to 3000 m³/h, delivering cooling capacities up to 190 kW and total electrical power reaching 260 kW, supporting large-scale and high-demand testing scenarios.
It incorporates advanced cooling techniques such as mechanical refrigeration and liquid nitrogen (LN2) heat exchange, along with high-efficiency LN2 injection and constant pressure operation to optimize energy efficiency and reduce operational costs. Equipped with a PLC-based control system and a user-friendly 10-inch color touchscreen interface, the unit supports both standalone operation and seamless integration with higher-level systems such as SCADA platforms and thermal vacuum chamber controls. Robust and versatile, the Thermal Conditioning Unit is ideally suited for satellite testing, spacecraft validation, avionics qualification, and other mission-critical aerospace applications requiring precise, stable and efficient thermal management in simulated space environments.
