Impact of orbit inclination on heat transfer in a 1U LEO CubeSat

Abstract

Temperature prediction is crucial to build dependable CubeSats and operate them at peak efficiency. Therefore, all parameters that could impact the thermal performance of the satellite must be taken into account in the thermal analysis. This work covers the thermal simulation of a 1U CubeSat. The objective is to simulate, using the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics, the impact of an important parameter on the satellite’s temperature distribution: beta angle. It defines the position of the CubeSat relatively to the solar vector. To investigate the effect of this parameter on the satellite, a set of simulations was performed for different beta angles.