A University Small Satellite Thermal Control Modeling and Analysis in the Post-Mission Phase

Abstract

This work includes the thermal control analysis of a small spacecraft in thepost-mission phase. The satellite internal component distribution has beenmodified to fulfill all thermal requirements when using a passive thermalcontrol system. In the post-mission phase, the satellite will be used by theradio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) community as atransponder, fully using the AMSAT payload that will maintain active andshall last at least 2 years. Thermal Desktop software is introduced for thementioned spacecraft. The final analysis predictions show that the passivethermal control system maintains all satellite element's temperatureswithin their temperature limits. The temperature variation of +X solarpanel is 75 °C which is less than experienced by +Z and –Z panels, whichare 100 °C. The temperature change on equipment agrees with theirpanels. Compared with a specialized thermal analysis, software package(ESATAN-TMSs) verified the integrity of the results