The purpose of this thesis is the realization of the electronics of a time of flight mass spectrometer, the realization and the vacuum tests of a prototype which can be put onboard a satellite. A particular effort was necessary to decrease to the maximum the mass and electric consumption of the spectrometer, which led to the development of new circuits.The work completed during this thesis initially concerns the electronics of the measuring equipment which was conceived in a concern for modularity. A complete “reflectron” type mass spectrometer was then designed, simulated and developed. The built prototype, which uses the developed electronics, was exposed to ion flows of different masses and energies in the CESR vacuum chambers. Its measured performances validate the implemented principles and show that an identical mass spectrometer can be put onboard a satellite with profit, for planetary or solar missions.
