Influence of the Measurements Uncertainties in the Correlation of Spacecraft Thermal Models against Thermal Results

Abstract

Ground thermal tests are always mandatory before any space mission is flown into space. The collected results of these tests are mainly temperatures of the different parts of the spacecraft (nodes) for different mission scenarios. The measured temperatures always show differences with the expected values coming from the computer thermal mathematical models. The origin of these differences is partially related to the inherent error coming from physical measurements. The thermal parameters that compose the computer thermal mathematical models must always be correlated with the results coming from tests. This paper studies, through three thermal models, the difficulties that are found in the correlation process when the measured temperatures reach a certain level of error. Thermal parameters become more difficult to be identified when the measurement error level increases. However, the temperature fields obtained with these poor thermal parameters are good enough for the mission thermal analysis. Several error levels, different load cases and correlation for steady-state and transient cases are studied to probe these findings.