Development of a Design Flow and a MATLAB tool for Automated Calculation of Mechanical and Thermal Analyses on a CubeSat

The present thesis has been developed in collaboration with Space Products and Innovation S.A.R.L. (SPiN) and concerns the creation of a MATLAB code for the implementation of a parametric model of a 1U CubeSat for thermal and mechanical analysis. The project aims to continue the previous work (a MATLAB tool capable of calculating a generic CubeSat’s budgets), which were missing Mechanical and Thermal analyses. The new tool from MATLAB generates a fully parameterized CubeSat model with margins, that can be directly imported in Patran-Nastran for the implementation of static and modal analysis. The first phase of the work is the study of the theoretical background needed and the different software alternatives that can be used. The first chapter describes the previous project, namely how the initial tool worked while it also presents the missing parts, the mechanical and thermal analyses developed in this thesis. Chapters two and three describe the theoretical basis for the mechanical and thermal analyses, respectively, and anticipate the workflow of the next chapters. Chapter four details the process of connecting MATLAB code with Patran-Nastran to perform mechanical analysis, both static and modal, on a simplified CubeSat model. Due to limitations of the Patran student license, Inventor-Nastran was used for more complex models, confirming that CubeSat maintains structural integrity under mechanical loads. Chapter five discusses thermal analysis conducted using MATLAB tools, which are CubeSat Wizard and CubeSat Thermal Power Toolbox, along with TAITherm. The results will be compared to show the differences between them and reach the outputs considering all the heat transmissions, which were part of the gaps of the previous thermal analysis. The chapter also discusses why Thermal Desktop was not used, which was originally chosen for this project. The conclusion summarizes the obtained results, particularly those that have not been achieved from the previous work. At the end, some open points will be discussed, such as the verification and validation of more complex models, particularly for SPiN satellites. The current thesis assists in the design phase of CubeSats by providing a method able to automate the mechanical and thermal analyses, which fills the gaps from the previous works and establishing a solid basis for the design of future 1U CubeSats.