Speakers
Description
Out of nearly two thousand CubeSat missions that have taken place, less than ten have been designed to cultivate and sustain living organisms in-orbit whilst working with as strict thermal requirements as the AcubeSAT, developed under ESA Education's “Fly Your Satellite! 3 Programme” by SpaceDot. SpaceDot is a non-profit, volunteer, and interdisciplinary student team working on the 3U CubeSat project AcubeSAT, supported by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Greece. The team comprises more than 60 students from AUTh and several other universities across Greece and Europe.
The mission's goal is to study the effects of microgravity and radiation on eukaryotic cells using a compact microfluidic platform (Lab-on-a-chip) located inside a sealed container (payload) that houses the biological experiment under atmospheric conditions. Currently, the development cycle of the Payload Container is nearing its end and environmental testing at the CSF facility is scheduled in the near future.
By its nature, the CubeSat platform poses challenges in the integration of traditional thermal control methods. Whether that is attributed to a strict mass/power budget or limited space to implement proper thermal insulation from the harsh environment of space, maintaining the satellite's biological payload at optimal temperatures to promote cell growth presents a great challenge. Therefore, meticulous thermal modeling and rigorous design optimization plays a crucial role in the development process.
The objective of the aforementioned tests is to validate the passive and active thermal control system and improve the thermal mathematical model. Some of the challenges the thermal subsystem is facing is working within the confines of a sealed vessel that houses a variety of temperature-sensitive components where the experiment will be held. Some of them are, the microfluidics chip where the experiment will be conducted, the solenoids that will transfer the growth medium to the eukaryotic cells and the bags that will contain said growth medium. Because the container is filled with air, the analysis must account for the fact that the tests will be conducted on earth where, unlike in orbit, the DUT is subject to gravity and natural convection occurs. Therefore, this factor will be modeled for the correlation of the models to take place.
In conclusion, through thermal analysis and testing, the team will endeavor to meet the challenging and unique requirements of the biological experiment inside the sealed vessel. As the mission progresses towards launch, it is hoped that it will offer valuable insights and lessons on how thermal control can be achieved and validated in subsequent biological missions and contribute to this burgeoning field of research.
