Study: CubeSat thermal control system design and analysis

Abstract

Thermal control is one of the most critical parts in the design of a satellite. Indeed, the Thermal Control System(TCS) provides the spacecraft with the necessary means to survive in the extreme space environment conditions. This task becomes specially challenging when the requirements of a nanosatellite are added. The need of a thermal control system mainly based on passive mechanisms make thermal analysis and the development of an accurate thermal model key aspects to make the correct design decisions. In this work, the1U CubeSat3Cat-4 thermal control system has been designed and analyzed. Thermal models have been built and successfully simulated initially with MATLAB and later with Thermal Desktop in more precise models.The thermal analyses have been used to determine the outer coating of the spacecraft and the painting of the internal PCBs. The results from the simulations, however, showed that the available passive mechanisms are insufficient to meet all temperature requirements. Using the heater placed in the EPS the results during the worst cold cases improved by leaving only the COMMS/AOCS subsystems board out of design temperatures. During the worst hot case, the batteries in the EPS showed to exceed their upper temperature limit.Actions have been proposed to improve the thermal model and eventually update the TCS design.