TS-Space Systems is proud to announce we have joined the 'Made In Britain' community promoting British manufacturing. Supporting British manufacturing is incredibly important to us and we are keen to show this using the 'Made In Britain' marque on our products.

All of our instruments are designed and manufactured in the UK, here at TS-Space Systems. We also subcontract many specialist assembly or manufacturers for components within our products.

To read more about the 'Made In Britain' community of UK manufacturers, click the logo to the right and follow the link.

While we do not recommend working under such conditions, we are sometimes asked to help with urgent test requirements with little time to prepare.

​We were recently contacted with very short notice for a thermal vacuum test requirement. Less than two weeks after receiving the test procedure document we had begun the test and, even with the chamber not being configured how we would have liked it and the test procedure being altered by the customer 'on-the-fly', the test was completed on schedule. The results of the test were critical to the acceptance of a flight component and as such the customer was able to meet their deadline due to our rapid response.

A customer requirement for baking out hundreds of thermocouples meant pushing the capacity of our TVAC chamber. The down-time between bakeouts gave us a week to measure, design, manufacture, clean and fit spool system for loading the thermocouples. We were constrained by our temperature controlled shroud, but we were able to fit the components in time and complete the bakeout.

Our chamber can be fitted with a large a range of temperature controlled shrouds we have manufactured for it. However, we are able to manufacture new shrouds to accommodate samples which are more tricky to mount.

For this particular bakeout the samples need to be suspended in the center of the chamber. We were able to get a design to our highly skilled engineer within the day and continued the re-configuring of the chamber while the machining was being undertaken. Computer controlled DC power supplies were installed into the control rig and the PID software updated to take care of the temperature control of the multi-segment shroud. In a week we had the new shroud installed along with re-routed thermocouples, QCM and cold plate lines. The bakeout was then started on-schedule thanks to our quick turnaround.

Our test facilities for both thermal vacuum testing and ECSS-Q-ST-70-02 outgassing both continue to be in demand. We've recently overhauled our thermal vacuum test chamber (TVAC1) after the turbo pump failed early this year. We have stripped and cleaned the chamber and now have the new turbo installed along with UPS and automated shutdown for the pump and thermal system in the event of power failure. The thermal control has also been upgraded to use a custom built system using the NI CDaq units for accurate PID control of the hot and LN2 modes of the chamber. We've even gone so far as to give TVAC1 its own twitter feed for remote monitoring.

We are beginning a new build of our Unisim Compact solar simulators as our stocks are almost sold out. The latest model has the improved, sliding enclosure for all-round access to the optical enclosure as well as an IV measurement system with source meter as standard. Many of our customers are ordering these with the optional LED boosts fitted. This allows the simulator to be used as a 4-zone system using our 'N-Zone' technique covered on this blog.

If you have any interest in our simulators or test facilities, please feel free to contact us to discuss your requirements.

Due to an increase in quote requests for our test services we have a new form for requesting quotes for vacuum testing which can be found here. Although we specialise in custom testing requirements, collating common test requirements using this initial form will help us get your quote out much faster.

We are also in the process of updating our standard outgassing test information to cover regular questions and problems we are asked regarding sample preparation. For our existing customers please note our outgassing charges will remain the same for 2017, so if you used us for your outgassing test work in 2016 and are looking to use us again in 2017, the prices are the same.

We'd like to wish all of our customers and clients a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2016 has seen a particular increase in demand for our in-house test and consultancy services and we are grateful for all of the interest, feedback and references you've given us. We will be working on further expanding our test services in 2017.

We are also always working on our Unisim range of solar simulators which continue to lead the world in solar simulation and 2017 will be no different. We are working on new products, designs and also an expansion of our in-house solar simulator service for next year.

Please note that we will be closing for the Christmas period from the 22/12/16 to 02/01/17 so please contact us with your requirement before then, otherwise we will see you all in 2017!

The full download for our latest IV measurement software v4.1 is available via the download link below.

For more information on our IV measurement software see our product page.

The full IV measurement system source code is included with any of our Unisim solar simulators including our new Unisim Compact solar simulator.

We are very proud of our extensive customer list which includes some of the most prestigious research and commercial groups working in photovoltaics today and we are very happy to be able to add SJ Solar and Tulane University department of Physics and Engineering Physics to that list.

If you would like more information on our 4-zone Unisim close match solar simulators with LED boost zone options, please have a look at our brochure or contact us to discuss your requirements.

If you are interested in our close match Unisim Compact solar simulator designed for smaller research applications, please see our new informational video or download the brochure for a full overview of what is possible with our Unisim range of solar simulators.