Research Summaries

Back Development, Integration, and Evaluation of Lightweight Materials For Thermal Management in CubeSat Architectures

Fiscal Year 2020
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Space Systems Academic Group
Investigator(s) Lan, Wenschel D.
Luhrs, Claudia C.
Gunduz, Ibrahim E.
Sponsor Department of Defense Space (DoD)
Summary Reductions in size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements have been continuously sought after for space systems. With small satellite technology continuing to leverage the miniaturization of electronics, pushing the boundaries of size and weight is a synergistic effort that enables development of national capabilities in space that ultimately benefit the mission of supporting the warfighter. Currently, small satellite technology is often limited by the temperature limits of certain components, such as processors and batteries. This proposal describes the development, fabrication, and integration of materials with potential to improve the passive thermal control on a CubeSat. The overall objective of the proposal is to substitute the current radiative and conductive materials for lighter weight components while being able to deliver the same or improved performance. The PI has ample experience in the development and integration of CubeSats and the Co-PIs will provide expertise in material selection and fabrication. The systems will be tested under laboratory conditions to determine how the performance of the new systems compares with previous technologies. As this methodology scales to larger spacecraft, the resulting reduction in size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements will allow for more on-board capability. Such benefits may include more SWaP for on-board processing, increased link margin, and more complex optical payloads. The growing acceptance of the CubeSat form factor as a means of accomplishing focused research objectives of national interest makes this project of great value to the educational curricula at NPS. It is anticipated that Naval Officers and other students in the NPS Space Systems Engineering and Operations curricula will work on this project through Directed Studies and Thesis research.
Keywords
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal