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History and company team background
Tubular Furnace with Integrated Thermal Anylysis under Space Conditions for materials sciences experiments (e.g. crystal growth, solidification, diffusion, physical chemistry) (operational on board MIR Space Station from 1995 to 2001)
CSK4/TITUS is the further delelopment in series of furnaces starting with CSK-1, CSK-1C and has been used for the first time during the EuroMIR'95 mission (in co-operation with DLR-MUSC, ESA, DARA, Humboldt Univ., Kayser-Threde, Energija/MIR). The facility was last used during the MIR'99 - Perseus mission (ESA, CNES) (1999)
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| TITUS space facility with German astronauts Hans-Pieter Schegel and Reinhold Ewald (Project MIR'97) (photo DLR, Germany) | TITUS space facility on board the MIR space station with the French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigeneré (Project French MIR'99 - Persues) (photo CNES, France) |
Facility Parameters:
| Dimensions | 1255 x 320 x 260 mm |
| Mass | 43.7 kg + 13.0 kg (auxiliary equipment) |
| Voltage | 27 + 7 / -4 Volt DC |
| Data interface | RS 232, max. 19.2 kbits/second |
Furnace (CSK-4)
| Heaters | 6 (4 narrow, 2 wide zones) |
| Temperature | 100 to 1250 °C |
| Accuracy of | |
| temperature setting | ± 2.5 K |
| temperature control | ± 0.3 K |
| Max. axial temperature gradient | 5 to 30 K/cm (sample material dependent) |
| Heated lenght | 200 mm |
| Translation | Gradient freezing, cartridge movement |
| Feeding length | 480 mm |
| Feeding speed | 0.01 to 20.8 mm/h |
| Accuracy of positioning | ± 0.01 mm |
| Atmosphere | Ambient |
Crew Interface Computer
| Type | IBM Thinkpad 755 C with docking station |
| Processor | 486 DX/4, 75 MHz, 20 MB |
| Storage capacity hard disk | 500 MB |
| Storage capacity PCMCIA | 350 MB (exchangeable) |
| Max. power | 115 W |
| Interfaces | 3 RS 232 serial interfaces |
Measurement electronics (TEGRA)
| Interface | 2 RS 232 serial |
| Measuring frequency - temperature | 0.01 to 1 Hz |
| Measuring frequency - gravitation | 50/100/200 Hz |
| Measuring range - temperature | 0 to 1400 °C |
| Measuring range - gravitation | ± 50 mg |
| Resolution - temperature | 10 mK |
| Resolution - gravitation | 25 µg |
The Experimental and Diagnostic Features:
