Speaker
Description
SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a collaborative science mission for the investigation of the solar wind interaction with Earth magnetosphere in order to further understand the Sun-Earth connection. SMILE is a joint science mission between European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for which Phase CD activities are currently on-going.
SMILE satellite would be launched into a Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) that would allow observing the specific regions in the near-Earth space where these interactions occur. To achieve its goals, SMILE satellite consists of a Platform (PF) composed by the Propulsion Module (PM) and the Service Module (SVM), both provided by CAS, and a Payload Module (PLM), which is provided by ESA. The PLM accommodates the SMILE scientific instruments, the PLM Control Unit and Power Unit, the memory and the X-band communication system.
The Thermal Architecture is in charge of providing the PLM (including the instruments and the interfaces with the SVM) with the necessary means, functions and support to achieve the requested science performances by maintaining appropriate thermal conditions (temperature ranges, thermal stability and gradients, among others) for all the mission phases and operating conditions. The PLM thermal design concept, for what concerns the interface with the Platform, will be based on thermal decoupling from the PF thermal environment. The interface couplings (conductive and radiative) will need to be minimised by design to a suitable level and verified by analysis.
This presentation aims to provide a general description of the Payload Module concept for the SMILE satellite and a comprehensive description of the thermal design, analysis and future validation plan of the Thermal Architecture of the SMILE Satellite Payload Module (PLM), including the relevant thermal interfaces with the Platform and the Instruments. It also focuses on the related cooperative aspects with the Chinese Academy of Science.
