1 Copyright © 2010 by ASME DESIGN AND ANALYSIS FOR THERMAL CONTROL SYSTEM OF NANOSATELLITE Murat Bulut TURKSAT A.S. R&D and Satellite Design Center Konya Yolu 40.Km Golbasi, Ankara, Turkey Email:muratbulut@turksat.com.tr Adem Kahriman TURKSAT A.S. R&D and Satellite Design Center Konya Yolu 40.Km Golbasi, Ankara, Turkey Email: ademkahriman@turksat.com.tr Nedim Sozbir TURKSAT A.S. R&D and Satellite Design Center Konya Yolu 40.Km Golbasi, Ankara, Turkey Email: nsozbir@turksat.com.tr ABSTRACT It is desirable to be able to turn-around thermal analysis results in a couple of minutes early phases of a satellite thermal design. Therefore, ThermXL-spreadsheet-based Thermal Analysis Tool is one of the very flexible and easy-to-use tool that is suited to preliminary design of a nanosatellite. This paper focuses on the thermal design and the results of an initial analysis of the nanosatellite by using ThermXL. The goal of this study is to take suitable measures to ensure all the components will operate in their safe range of temperatures and also a proper heat rejection. The nanosatellite such as Cube Satellite (CubeSat) is a miniaturized satellite that has dimensions of 10cm x 10cm x 10cm and weights of 1kg. The thermal model of CubeSat was modelled and the thermal analysis was performed. The thermal control analysis on this CubeSat with passive thermal control has been conducted by the ThermXL program that provided by ITP Engines. Temperature distribution of solutions was computed with ThermXL. Temperature data met the need of the mission. The results of the temperatures show that the thermal design of nanosatellite is feasible. INTRODUCTION The goal of thermal control is to guarantee all the components within their allowable temperature limits throughout the satellite mission. All the components have to work from the beginning to end of the lifetime with the required performances. The thermal control can be passive or active that depends on the design approach. A passive control is applied to most of the nanosatellites because of the simplicity, cost, reliability, the limited mass, and power. In order to maintain the temperature of the components within the allowable temperature range, minimize the mass and power requirements, the thermal design is a key step to taken at the beginning of the program. The CubeSat temperature is controlled by selection of surface properties and insulation. The infrared emissivity and solar absorptivity of areas around the solar panels are selected to ensure that the temperature remain between the operating limits of the components [1]. This paper presents the thermal design and analysis of nanosatellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) using ThermXL. ThermXL is a thermal modeller based on the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program [2]. The mathematical approach used for predicting temperatures in a model is the „lumped parameter‟ method, which has been well proven in ESATAN, the European space industry standard thermal analyser [2]. NOMENCLATURE a = albedo factor A c = cross-sectional area A s = surface area C p = specific heat at constant pressure f e = Earth view factor h = altitude of the spacecraft IR = infrared Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition IMECE2010 November 12-18, 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada IMECE2010-3 Downloaded 05 Jul 2012 to 94.55.115.254. Redistribution subject to ASME license or copyright; see http://www.asme.org/terms/Terms_Use.cfm