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As part of the European contribution to the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), the European Robotic Arm (ERA) is designed under contract from the European Space Agency by Fokker Space as the Prime contractor. After the launch in 1999, ERA operations will first begin with the assembly of the Russian segment and then later continue with the routine tasks such as inspection, maintenance, freight handling, etc. The particularly challenging aspect of the ERA thermal design is to enable ERA to operate under all possible, but wide, in-orbit thermal environmental conditions which are to be experienced throughout its 10 year life. These can be between the extreme cold conditions without sunlight for hibernation to the extreme hot conditions with ERA operating in full sunlight in close vicinity to a large station item, for instance, the solar arrays.

FHTS is a major extension to the existing ESATAN thermal analyser. It is capable of carrying out one dimensional steady state or transient analysis, solving for pressure, temperature and mass flow rate, for single or two phase loops. This paper begins by giving an overview of the capabilities of FHTS and outlines the stringent quality assurance standards adhered to during its development. The coding standards ensure software verification during its development via module testing and the development of a test suite. Further verification of both the single phase and two phase capability has already been carried out by comparison against Retran, a well established package used throughout the Nuclear Industry. An outline of the results from this work and conclusions drawn is given. Although limited in scope the work proved extremely valuable.