Update of ESA Missions and Thermal Technology Developments
In the past year, two versions of Systema have been issued.
First the V4.9.1 version of Systema-Thermica was released and is available to users in fall 2021. This new version provides some enhanced performances affecting the model creation process, such as for example selection in the meshing, and how node condensation is handled. Moreover some features of the STEP-TAS protocol have been...
ESATAN-TMS provides an advanced thermal modelling environment for the thermal analysis of spacecraft and launch vehicles. The suite is continually being enhanced to meet current and future requirements of space projects, and to support the specific needs of thermal engineers.
A major focus of ESATAN-TMS development this year has been on providing facilities within Workbench to further...
The thermal heat leaks in electrical harnesses become one of the major source of uncertainty in space thermal engineering especially for miniaturized systems as nanosatellites, microsatellites or where harness lengths are reduced. In parallel, the space systems become more and more power consuming including more and more electrical needs leading to a high dissipated power and high electrical...
In the early years of CubeSat technology the reliability of the missions was about 30-50%. However, over time the mission’s success rate increased up to about 74% in 2018 (based on Thyrso Villela et al., “Towards the Thousandth CubeSat: A Statistical Overview”). Nevertheless, there’s still a place for improvement due to high investment cost. Thermal control of a spacecraft is one of the...
The current set of cold plates on the ESA Columbus laboratory module of the International Space Station have their origin in the cold plates that were developed for Spacelab and also used for the European Retrievable Carrier, Eureca. Considering the very challenging requirements on all subsystems to meet stringent mass targets for human exploration missions beyond LEO, there is a strong...
With the miniaturization of space-borne sensors and the introduction of small propulsion modules, more powerful payloads are anticipated to be used in small satellites. Therefore, new thermal concepts are required to cope with the increasing thermal dissipation and the resulting negative effects. This presentations shows a new thermal control concept to thermally standardize small satellites...
During the design phases of a spacecraft development, a thermal model of the spacecraft is created that is used to predict the operational temperatures under a defined set of terrestrial and space environments.This thermal model involves a large number of inputs coming from a large number of sources. Some inputs, such as the thermal conductivity of a material are well defined and subject to...
In recent years, a focus of space exploration has shifted again to the surface of the Moon. There is a reborn interest of the study and utilization of the Moon. In this context, thermal engineers have to design space hardware for operation in the lunar environment. Detailed thermal analyses of hardware in the lunar environment requires complex thermal models and powerful software packages....
Thermal testing and validation of the satellite components are critical during the satellite development phase. In general, thermal contact conductance and heat flow path on the satellite components are verified through simulations and by performing thermal vacuum tests. In this paper, detailed thermal modelling, analysis, and testing of a 27U microsatellite’s avionics assembly are described....
Electronic systems can be adversely effected in space due to the radiation environment. Due to the available space-qualified devices often lacking the necessary performance requirements set by the satellites’ onboard softwares, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products are used more and more often. Testing of cosmic ray sensitivity is very challenging on Earth’s surface, thus an alternative...
QARMAN is the "QubeSat for Aerothermodynamic Research and Measurements on AblatioN" of the von Karman Institute of Fluid Dynamics (Belgium). It is the world’s first CubeSat designed to survive atmospheric re-entry. The main aim of the QARMAN mission was to demonstrate the usability of a CubeSat platform as an atmospheric entry vehicle.
QARMAN is a 3U CubeSat whose thermal design is based on...
A recurrent industrial problematic lies in integrating sub-models into full and complex models, such as adding a spacecraft model into a launcher model. Thermal nodes clustering is currently proceeded manually by thermal knowledge from the technical expert, taking a substantial amount of time.
One of the milestones of the PhD funded by Dorea about Model Reduction for Space Thermal Simulation...
ESATAN-TMS provides an advanced thermal modelling environment for the thermal analysis of spacecraft and launch vehicles. The suite is continually being enhanced to meet current and future requirements of space projects, and to support the specific needs of thermal engineers. This presentation will focus on a new user interface enabling rapid development and implementation of customized...
The satellite telecommunications industry is currently undergoing significant evolutions. Future communication satellites need to accommodate a rapidly growing demand in data transfer, combined with more flexibility. For example, there is a strong need for Very High Throughput Satellites capable of delivering up to Tb/s over wide coverage areas and an active phased array antenna is a powerful...
Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite sandwich panels are becoming commonplace in satellite designs due to their high strength and low mass. While excellent for the mechanical engineer they create difficulties for the thermal engineer due to their poor thermal conductance. This presents problems for a traditional satellite architecture where units are mounted on a panel and the...
The increasing demand in image quality provided by forthcoming observation missions requires both the need to use very low-CTE materials for focal planes, such as Silicon Carbide (SiC), and the need to accommodate electronics as close as possible to the detector. Such a highly integrated focal plane thus implies an efficient Thermal Control to drain the dissipated power and ensure a high...
Spacecraft thermal interface selection has traditionally been driven by an over conservatism that has ultimately built in excess cost, assembly time, and suboptimal performance into builds for the past few decades. Machining tolerances, waviness of panels, and large area interfaces that bow or warp when bolted all combine to create interfaces that can have substantial out of flatness and gaps...
Foam insulations are important thermal control elements for cryogenic upper stages. One of these, called "External Thermal Insulation" (ETI), was developed at ArianeGroup GmbH in Bremen for first use on Ariane 6. In particular, the thermal conductivity of the current ETI configuration has been characterized by tests. Further developments of the ETI are planned, where the thermal conductivity...
The ongoing project PROSPECT is aiming to land a drill (ProSEED) and a lab (ProSPA) on the surface of the Moon with the Russian Luna-27 mission planned for 2024/2025. The objective is to detect and quantify the presence of sub-surface ice in South Polar regions of the Moon. The environment is thermally challenging given the wide range of lunar surface temperatures and the varying lighting...
The harness sizing for space applications is driven by derating rules, which are specified in international standards and in particular the ECSS-Q-ST-30-11C Rev 1 (2011) , “Space Product Assurance, Derating EEE Components”, relevant for a wide range of European space projects. The respective standard, concerning wire and cable derating, is based on tests conducted in the 50’s and 70’s and...
BIOMASS was selected as the 7th Earth Explorer mission and will be the 4th Core Earth Explorer Mission. The overall objective of the mission is to reduce the uncertainty in the worldwide spatial distribution and dynamics of forest biomass to improve current assessments and future projections of the global carbon cycle. BIOMASS P-band SAR will enable the first global scale, systematic...
JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) spacecraft will provide a thorough investigation of the Jupiter system in all its complexity with emphasis on the three potentially ocean-bearing Galilean satellites (Ganymede, Europa and Callisto) and their potential habitability. It will carry the most powerful remote sensing, geophysical, and in situ payload complement ever flown to the outer Solar System....
Design and Development of the SXI Thermal Balance Test
Nicholas Eaton *† (Space Acoustics, SXI Thermal Lead
Andrew Cheney †† (Space Research Centre, University of Leicester), SXI Systems Engineer
Steve Sembay †† (Space Research Centre, University of Leicester), SXI Principal Investigator
* Speaker, † Author, †† Co-author
The Soft X-ray Imager, or SXI, is one of four instrument and...
