Disclosed is an apparatus, which is capable of, even under a microgravity environment, detecting a position of a surface of a liquid, such as liquid fuel, contained in a tank, and determining a volume of the liquid, in a simple and accurate manner. The apparatus comprises a vessel adapted to contain therein a liquid, heating means provided on a wall surface of the vessel to heat the liquid contained in the vessel, temperature measuring means provided adjacent to the heating means to measure a temperature change occurring due to the heating by the heating means, and processing means operable, based on the temperature change measured by the temperature measuring means, to calculate a volume of the liquid contained in the vessel.