Thermal design and analysis of a medium-sized satellite platform across various configurations and mission scenarios

The growing demand in the satellite market, for a variety of applications (e.g., Earth Observation, Science, Communication, Navigation), is driving the space industry towards a new and more efficient approach for their design, assembly, integration and test. Sets of space missions, even with different scopes and objectives, can be identified such to be carried out by satellites sharing the same, basic platform. As a consequence, the resources employed for the development of a satellite can be significantly reduced and mainly focused on the adaptations needed to meet the specific mission and system requirements. However, while adaptations can be easily implemented for some subsystems, for others, like the Thermal Control System, this is not the case as they are highly mission-dependent. The aim of this thesis, developed in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space, is to characterize the thermal performances of the medium-sized satellite platform HER-1000 for a variety of mission applications. To do this, an extended set of thermal analyses is performed in ESATAN-TMS to produce a comprehensive database of the most relevant variables and parameters. This will eventually allow the assessment of the platform's crucial thermal capabilities in any potential mission scenario, obtained via interpolation algorithms. As a result, a tool supporting the TCS team in the first phases of the satellite and mission design is developed. Its purpose is to quickly assess the appropriateness of potential satellite configurations by considering factors such as the distribution of internal heat generation and specific orbital parameters. The validity and range of applicability of this tool are demonstrated by the comparison of its results with the mission-specific thermal analyses performed for two case studies: SBG-TIR (Surface Biology and Geology Thermal InfraRed, Developed in collaboration with ASI and NASA JPL) and OB-SAT (OBservational SATellite). SBG-TIR and OB-SAT are satellites, both based on the HER-1000 platform, which are employed for Earth-observation missions. Nevertheless, they present unique characteristics related to the orbits, attitudes, operations and configurations. The thesis outlines the design process of the Thermal Control Systems of SBG-TIR and OB-SAT, along with the challenges that emerged, simulation methodologies employed and the trade-off studies conducted. Finally, lessons learned and opportunities for improvement are presented in view of the upcoming phases and new, future missions.