A real time thermal simulator for small spacecraft in an orbital environment

This thesis presents a thermal solver for small spacecraft written in MATLAB that interfaces with a.i. Solutions’ FreeFlyer mission design software. Thermal control on small spacecraft is a dynamic challenge, influenced by the ever-changing environment. Heat is sourced from both within and outside the spacecraft. Powered components impose heat loads, radiating and conducting energy into their surroundings. The sun and other celestial bodies contribute a varying flux upon the exterior of the spacecraft depending on the spacecraft’s relative position. The thermal solver takes all these factors into account, simulating the spacecraft’s environment, and produces interpretable results for analysis. Thermal analysis examines potential temperature gradients inside a spacecraft. The thermal solver written for this thesis is a user-friendly tool for space systems design tasks. Integrating this solver with an industry-level orbital propagator can improve the fidelity of thermal analysis beyond that commercial-grade software packages typically provide. Where standalone analysis software sometimes presents a cumbersome user experience for setting up an orbital environment, this solver solves the issue by interfacing with an external propagator, a.i. Solutions’ FreeFlyerTM. This allows for the setup of complex missions that may involve orbital maneuvers and changes in spacecraft attitude, providing an integrated analysis mission model. Verification of the thermal solver was demonstrated by correlating results with the available Siemens Simcenter 3D commercial software. Future improvements to the user interface are possible, but the basic solver is now ready for use in analyzing Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois (LASSI) missions.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Lim, Qi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lembeck, Michael F

• Thermal Analysis
• Small Spacecraft

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Qi Lim

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124396

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124396