Development and Testing of Computational Model for the Thermal Analysis of a CubeSat Nanosatellite

Abstract

Due to extremely low cost, compact form factor and ease of manufacturing, CubeSats have been increasingly used for academic research. The thermal management of CubeSat is very essential to ensure proper functioning however it is difficult due to its compact form factor. A three dimensional numerical model of a 3U CubeSat on MATLABTM is proposed for the thermal analysis and developed. Governing equations for conduction and radiation heat transfer are considered in the model and the corresponding algebraic equations are formulated using Finite Difference Method. The model is tested against simple test cases and the results predicted by this model for simpler geometries are verified using ANSYS® WorkbenchTM . Using an in-house orbit propagator the irradiation due to solar radiation, earth albedo and earth IR is estimated. The numerical model is extended to determine the temperature distribution in a CubeSat in orbit and the results are analysed and verified with COMSOL Multiphysics ®