Dusty Thermal Vacuum (DTVAC) Facility Integration

Abstract

The perspective of beyond-LEO landed missions increases the need for payloads, landers, rovers, and future manned vehicles with the ability to survive and operate in different extra-terrestrial environments for extended periods of time. In the near-term, this includes the lunar, Mars, and asteroid environments. The DTVAC facility offers a test environment suitable for testing under simulated asteroid, lunar, and Martian conditions. It facilitates the combined effects of simulated solar illumination, thermal control, fine dust simulant dispersion, and charging, as well as vacuum to different levels. A temperature-controlled platen can accommodate various test devices up to 1.0 m×1.0 m×0.9 m in volume, including devices such as solar panels, optical payloads, and various mechanical assemblies such as motors, wheels, and small robots. In the initial performance validation, the DTVAC facility was able to provide 21 days of continuous environmental simulation under computer control.