This work discusses the modification and analysis of the Blue Thermal Vacuum Chamber (TVAC) located at the Space Environments Lab at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The modified design has a cylindrical test section and can accommodate 6U Cubesats or larger for educational or research purposes. The sizing process for the modified shroud cooling system and modular heating plates is discussed. The modified cooling system uses existing nitrogen plumbing into the chamber and control systems with a new copper shroud. The modified heating system uses modular heater plates, which utilize the existing three heater strips. The modified system includes high emissivity coatings for improved heat transfer performance, lower thermal mass materials to minimize thermal mass and liquid nitrogen consumption, and modular components for flexibility in operation. Analysis presented shows correlation between experimental results and a steady state thermal model using SolidWorks and SolidWorks Flow Simulation. The results demonstrate a maximum absolute difference in modeled vs experimental temperatures at measured locations of 11C in all cases, and 3C for test article temperatures only. Chamber performance is compared and characterized through a series of thermal vacuum tests and demonstrates capability exceeding ISO 19683 requirements for all thermal vacuum chamber testing categories except tolerance, with a tested temperature range of -145C at the shroud to 95C at the heater plates, >10 cycles between -15C and 55C, dwells in excess of 3 hours, ramp rates of 1-2C/min, and chamber pressures under

Spacecraft testing includes acoustics, vibrations, and thermal vacuum. Cal Poly’s Space Environments Lab is equipped with multiple vacuum chambers, but no thermal vacuum chamber. The purpose of this thesis is to incorporate an ATS Chiller system with the HVEC vacuum chamber so students are able to experiment with a thermal vacuum chamber. The ATS Chiller had leaky pipes that needed to be refurbished and a shroud was implemented to improve thermal capabilities of the system. The full system was able to reach temperatures as low as -38ºC and as high as 58ºC at a pressure of 10-6 Torr. The ATS Chiller was able to absorb up to 500W of heat dissipation from a component mounted to the platen inside of the vacuum chamber. Thermal modeling of the apparatus was performed in Thermal Desktop. The model was incorporated with the test data to extract interface resistance information between connected surfaces. Another model is used to analyze a theoretical component inside the apparatus to evaluate mounting methods and determine theoretical temperatures of the component. The model adjusts for material properties, including thermal conductivity and emissivity to accurately simulate testing conditions within +/- 3ºC. Platen and shroud adjustments were able to accommodate a peak bake out temperature of 130±2.2℃ of any component without damage to the system. Three temperature cycles were performed by the thermal vacuum chamber to reach extreme temperatures of 58℃ and -38. A 300 Watt heater was used to simulate component heat dissipation for the duration of the test. Furthermore, this thesis lays out further possibilities for thermal testing using the HVEC Vacuum chamber and ATS chiller as a thermal vacuum chamber.