System Design, Construction and Vibration Space Flight Qualification Tests of Baridi-Sana Flight Model, a Two-Phase Flow Cooling System for Microgravity Conditions

The last decade of space research has focused attention on increasingly small-sized space systems and spacecraft, with the aim of containing weight, and therefore costs, while still focusing on the quality and reliability of new technologies. Furthermore, space cooperation, for the purpose of common growth in the field of research, proposed by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), has led to the creation of programs such as Baridi Sana, a cooperation project supported by the Italian Space Agency and the Kenya Space Agency, between Sapienza University of Rome and Machakos University, in collaboration with ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, chosen as one of the experiments to be carried out in the Chinese space station, regarding the use in microgravity conditions of a two-phase flow cooling system. The choice of testing such systems seems natural: in the context of the miniaturization of high-power space systems and therefore of the increase in heat flows to be managed, the creation of active cooling systems, such as those based on the use of two-phase fluids, has assumed fundamental importance. In this paper, authors describe in detail the design and realization of the Flight model of Baridi Sana experiment, starting from the design, passing through the choice of components and fluid, and finally describing the space qualification vibration tests that have been carried out on the Baridi-Sana Experiment Flight Model. The vibration test, performed at Sapienza University of Rome, allowed the experiment to be compliant with the specifications given by the related standards.