Design, development and verification of the Electric Propulsion Interface System for the CubeSat Test Platform

The present thesis was born as part of a joint project between the CubeSat PoliTo Team of Politecnico di Torino and the European Space Agency (ESA). The goal of this collaboration is to continue the development of an All Electric Cubesat Test Platform able to perform several types of tests on miniaturized electric propulsion systems. The desired outcome is to assert the mutual interaction between the platform itself and the electric propulsion systems in order to characterize their static and dynamic behavior in different conditions. The collaboration has started with the detailed study of the state-of-the-art of the project, which already was at its second iteration. Once identified the main weaknesses and improvement opportunities the third iteration has began following a modified V-model where new functional and non-functional requirements have been listed, and a new design for the platform has born. The main addition from the previous iterations is a sub-system completely dedicated to interface the EP System, and to characterize its thermal, electrical and electromagnetic behavior inside a CubeSat, which takes the name of Electric Propulsion Interface System (EPIS). The driver requirements during the design has been the flexibility to host different EP Systems in terms of data communication, electrical supply and mechanical integration. While the final design was still in definition, the software development started and preliminary implementation tests has been performed using development boards and communication mock-ups. Each unit has been tested alone and integrated following a bottom-up AIV plan. The complete CTP has been validated through a rigorous Full Functional Test campaign, at first in laboratory conditions, and finally fully integrated with the T4I’s REGULUS Propulsion System. A first test campaign was performed in Padua to verify the correct behavior of the two systems integrated, while a final commissioning test campaign was performed at the Electric Propulsion Laboratory (EPL) at ESA-ESTEC in Noordwijk, Holland.