Thermal Analysis for a Re-entry CubeSat Mission

摘要

A re-entry CubeSat mission is being investigated to measure data in-situ for a better understanding of the lower thermosphere The mission aims to develop a 3U CubeSat to place in orbit the scientific payloads as well as some new subsystems for testing By successfully using these new subsystems in outer space it will be demonstrated that they are capable of performing their tasks under the harsh conditions of the space environment In order to ensure the survivability of the CubeSat throughout its expected life spam it is of outermost interest to determine the range of temperatures at which it will oscillate during the orbital phase so that either a more robust thermal control can be applied or to use subsystems that can withstand these variations The present study uses the FEA method to simulate the temperature variations and compares the results with the minimum and maximum operational and survivability temperatures of each individual component expected to be in the CubeSat The results showed that the current configuration of its thermal protection subsystem and placement of the inner components lie within the safe margins to ensure the mission success Since one of the scientific missions of this CubeSat is to measure the electron density and electron temperature within the plasma generated on its re-entry through Earth’s ionosphere a Floating Langmuir Probe was developed to fit the specific conditions of traveling in a nanosatellite Variations in flush-mounted and needle-built double probes and triple probes were evaluated in order to find the most suitable configuration for the mission Design issues revolved around the harness being connected in one extreme to the probe being placed directly in contact with the plasma and on the other extreme to the highly insulated OBC carrying through it not only the data signal but also the harsh temperatures from the outside Due to the small size of the CubeSat it was not possible to use active cooling systems and so the design played a very important role In the end the triple probe needle-built made out of Tungsten was selected for this mission

獎項日期	2017 7月 27
原文	English
監督員	Jiun-Jih Miau (Supervisor)