Study On Development Of Simulation Software For Contamination In Satellite’s Thermal Vacuum Tests

The contamination generated by condensed organic molecules may deteriorate the function of spacecrafts’ optical system and thermal control surfaces, and shorten the life of the spacecrafts. With the rapid development of long-life satellites, it is of great importance for the research of contamination control.So the development of a simulation software for contamination in satellite’s thermal vacuum tests was presented. It is expected that contamination buildup on sensitive surfaces of satellite before its thermal vacuum test can be predicted, and those conditions of points where a sensor cannot be placed were also buildup by simulation. Such information would be very helpful to contamination control.In this thesis, the molecular contamination simulation in vacuum thermal test was conducted. A simulation software framework and methodology were first presented, which include average outgassing rate equation, Maxwell deflation distribution model, perspective transmission and single reflection transmission model, and classical adhesion model. The calculation program was carried out by using Monte Carlo method. The software was implemented with Visual C++ and OpenGL. The outgassing properties of a multi-layer material was obtained by test, which give the important input parameters for simulation. The contamination buildup in three cases of thermal vacuum tests of XX satellite was presented by use of the developed simulation software, and the calculated results was compared with that obtained in large vacuum simulator. It was found that both of the results were at the same level, thus the effectiveness of the simulation method was validated.