Outgassing or thruster’s generated contaminants are critical for optical surfaces and optical payloads because scientific measurements and, in general, the performances can be degraded or jeopardized by uncontrolled contamination. This is a well-known issue in space technology that is demonstrated by the growing usage of quartz crystal microbalances as a solution for measuring material outgassing properties data and characterizing the on-orbit contamination environment. Operation in space requires compatibility with critical requirements, especially the mechanical and thermal environments to be faced throughout the mission. This work provides the design of a holding structure based on 3D printing technology conceived to meet the environmental characteristics of space application, and in particular, to face harsh mechanical and thermal environments. A kinematic mounting has been conceived to grant compatibility with a large temperature range, and it has been designed by finite element methods to overcome loading during the launch phases and cope with a temperature working range down to cryogenic temperatures. Qualification in such environments has been performed on a mockup by testing a prototype of the holding assembly between −110 ${}^{\circ }$C and 110 ${}^{\circ }$C and allowing verification of the mechanical resistance and stability of the electrical contacts for the embedded heater and sensor in that temperature range. Moreover, mechanical testing in a random environment characterized by an RMS acceleration level of 500 m/s² and excitation frequency from 20 to 2000 Hz was successfully performed. The testing activity allowed for validation of the proposed design and opened the road to the possible implementation of the proposed design for future flight opportunities, also onboard micro or nanosatellites. Moreover, exploiting the manufacturing technology, the proposed design can implement an easy assembling and mounting of the holding system. At the same time, 3D printing provides a cost-effective solution even for small series production for ground applications, like monitoring the contaminants in thermo-vacuum chambers or clean rooms, or depositions chambers.

This work describes the design of a holder for a quartz crystal microbalance for space application. The main objectives of the conceived system are to hold the quartz crystal providing adequate support in the expected mechanical and thermal environments, and to assure the functionalities of the instrument, i.e. measuring the oscillation frequency and the crystal temperature or heating the crystal during regeneration phases. A kinematic mounting has been designed to be manufactured by stereolithography because this technology allows achieving high spatial resolution and complex shapes that are needed to implement an easy assembling and mounting of the holding system. Moreover, the 3D printing technology would provide a cost-effective solution even for small series production.

This research work describes the structural optimization of the MicroMED Dust Analyzer, an Optical Particle Counter developed for the ESA ExoMars 2022 mission. Topology Optimization, a non-conventional design technique was adopted to obtain a lighter component, a valuable achievement for aerospace and space scientific instruments design. In particular, two solutions for the instrument optical bench were proposed and assessed relying on a classical finite element approach, comparing the improved performance with the current design. The optimization outcome proved the adopted design workflow robustness and provided promising results in view of a possible mechanical design enhancement of the MicroMED Dust Analyzer instrument. Indeed, a mass budget saving of about 55% of the considered design domain was achieved, and the dynamic behaviour of the optical bench was improved by up to 50% of the first natural frequency value. Finally, a mockup of the lightened optical bench was manufactured, and the redesign effectiveness was proven by comparing the numerical mechanical resonances with the ones obtained experimentally. An error smaller than 5% was found on the first natural frequency, validating the performed optimization approach.

VISTA (Volatile In-Situ Thermogravimeter Analyzer) is a QCM (Quartz Crystal Microbalance) based device designed to characterize the dust environment of the Didymos asteroid system by detecting the presence of dust particles with sizes smaller than 5-10 $\mu $ μ m and sub- $\mu $ μ m, as well as volatiles and light organics, within the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA) Hera Mission. Thanks to its customized subsystems design, VISTA is capable of monitoring deposition and desorption/sublimation processes in the space environment, as well as molecular contamination (in support to other instruments) originating from outgassing sources during different mission phases, and of performing Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) on the collected materials. The VISTA Model development for Hera started in 2020 and continued through 2023, and included an Engineering Qualification Model 0 (EM ₀ ), an Engineering Qualification Model (EQM), a Flight Model (FM) and a Flight Spare (FS). The EM ₀ was electrically and mechanically representative of VISTA, while the EQM, FM and FS share the same mechanical structure and electrical connections. The prototype, as well as the Engineering, Flight and Spare Models, were delivered to the prime contractor, Tyvak International. VISTA Models are composed by three different subsystems: two quartz crystals mounted in a sandwich-like configuration; the Proximity Electronics; and the Thermal Control System, which includes two integrated and customized heaters and a Thermo-Electric Cooler to cool the sensor and facilitate dust and volatiles deposition. The VISTA EQM, FM and FS successfully passed the Qualification and Acceptance Test Campaigns. The main results obtained from simulations of particles and volatiles deposition in a vacuum chamber, heating cycles, and Thermo-Gravimetric Analyses are reported in this work.

We present the Infra-Red Telescope (IRT), which is part of the payload of the THESEUS mission, one on the three phase A candidate missions for the M7 slot of ESA (launch date 2037). The IRT is a 0.7 m class telescope with an off-axis Korsch optical design, with imaging capabilities in the 0.7–1.8 microns range over a 15 x 15 arc min field of view. The IRT also provides slit-less low resolution spectroscopy (R∼400) over a limited field of view of 2 x 2 arc min, in the 0.8–1.6 microns range. The goal of the IRT is to identify the near infrared counterparts to the Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) detected by the two other telescopes on board THESEUS (the XGIS and the SXI), and to measure on board its photometric redshift in near real-time. The position and the redshift will be transmitted immediately to ground to allow for deeper follow-up by the large telescopes (ELT, VLT, ...). If the source is bright enough, spectroscopy will be performed to characterize the GRB environment.