Cube Satellite Design A senior design presentation by:

1
Cube Satellite DesignA senior design
presentation by

• Raimundo Onetto
• Holger Paas
• Homero Perez

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Problem Statement

• Optimize cost of the Mechanical Design in a
  CubeSat.
• Integrate several Engineering Disciplines in one
  project.
• Mechanical Engineering aspects designed, tested
  and programmed in conjunction with FIUs CubeSAT
  Team.
• Provide a stable and safe structure to support
  the payloads of a CubeSat for affordable research
  in the future.

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Satellite Architecture
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Design Responsibilities

• Structural Design
• Thermal Analysis
• Attitude Control Determination System

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Structural Design
Specification Value
Length x Height x Width 10 x 10 x 10 (cm)
Weight 1 (kg)
Structural Materials 7075 or 6061-T6 (Al)
Center of Mass Within 1 of Geometric Center
Rails Length 13.5 (cm)
Operating Speed 7.5 (km/s)
Operating Altitude 700 (km)
Average Magnetic Field 30,000 (nT)

• Vibration, stress, effective shelving and access
  panel design analysis and optimization.

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Structural Design Concepts

• Different design concepts analyzed.
• Commercially available parts, manufacturing and
  assembly.
• Cost is the main design constrain.

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Thermal Analysis
Solar Flare

• Extreme changes in temperature occur as the
  satellite revolves around the earth.
• Critical components in the system are sensitive
  temperature changes and require an independent
  heating or cooling solution.

Copper Heat Sink
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Attitude Control Determination

• ACDS controls the pitch, yaw and roll of the
  satellite based on the instant parameters the
  satellite is experiencing.
• Stabilizing the satellite is important for the
  communications and integrity of the circuits.

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ACDS Design Concepts

• Determination
• Magnetometer.
• GPS.
• Accelerometers.
• Sun Sensor.

• Control
• Coils.
• Gyroscopes.
• Passive magnets.
• Spin Stabilization.

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Design Process

• Attitude vectorial analysis and design
• Space conditions analysis (thermal phases,
  radiation, collisions)

• Structural prototyping and assembly of parts
  Develop and debug attitude control and
  determination program (written in C) for main CPU
  (BeagleBoard)

• Run physical tests on components Collisions
  testing environment Operating temperatures of
  circuits tests Magnetic and accelerations testing

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Final Analysis

• A CubeSat needs all types of engineering
  disciplines working in a team.
• The design of the ACDS, thermal and structure
  analysis must be done by MEs.
• Designing a test unit with the appropriate
  parameters to run tests on it is the next step.

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The End