AERO2705 Space Engineering 1

Assignment 3
1. Scientific package

The aim of the mission it is to study the compositon of the comet in order to try and verify the existence
of the Oort cloud. The hypothesis is that most comets today come from the Oort cloud, and so we shall
determine the comet propertes and materials using the ALICE spectrometer. We will obtain these
results and compare them to previous studies on comets and see if comet compositon and propertes
are similar. If so, it may lead to suggest that they came from the source, the hypothetcal Oort cloud.
ALICE is a unique UV Spectrometer which allows UV Mapping within the sensors Field of Vision (FOV),
used originally at the NASAs Roseta Orbiter. The sensor works by allowing UV light to enter through the
Aperture door which is then refected of to an Entrance Slit via Of Axis Parabola mirror (OAP mirror).
From the slit, the light hits the toroidal holographic gratng which is then dispersed onto a micro channel
plate detector (MCP) that uses a double delay readout scheme to save the image. By having multple
shots we can determine the elemental emission of comet with respect to tme.
The Sensor itself is actually controlled by an independent microcontroller (SA 3865), which can of cause
be removed and atached to our own microcontroller if so desired. However, leaving the microcontroller
does have some benefts. The biggest advantage is that the sensing is not multplexed with other sensors
aboard the satellite, and its RAM can be purely dedicated to the UV sensing. The downside is the
difculty in controlling and integratng two microcontrollers (so essentally, a decision has to be made
between faster process tme, and simpler integraton.)
As a launch vehicle we shall choose the Atlas IIA due to its successful program since the 1950s. The
fying path is to launch the satellite from the vehicle afer arriving at comets orbit. It is intended a launch
from Cape Canaveral launch site at Florida, USA, to a 28.5 inclinaton circular LEO orbit and then make
the necessary orbit changes to launch the satellite afer arriving the comets orbit.

2. Satellite subsystems
Attitude control
In order to achieve optmal attude control, we must a combinaton of both an attude sensor and an
attude actuaton unit.
For this satellite subsystem, a fbre optc gyroscope (FOG) shall be used for attude determinaton. A
FOG, performs the same functon as a typical mechanical gyroscope, but instead works through the
Sagnac efect (a beam travelling against a rotaton will experience a slightly shorter path), rather than
gyroscopic measurements of momentum wheels. [3]
The FOG that shall be used is the Astrix 200 from Astrium. This inertal measurement unit will provide a
three axis measurement of the satellites current rotatonal rate with incredible accuracy (0.001 arc
seconds). The mass of the Astrix 200 is 10kg, and only consumes a few mW of power. Moreover this
specifc unit has been designed to be separated from processing electronics which will enable it to be
thermally regulated and avoid thermo-elastc efects on the fbre optc cables. [4]
The attude actuaton consists of two sectons, a fne control and a slew control unit. For slew control,
small hydrazine thrusters shall be placed at critcal points around the satellite in order to maximise the
moment arm of thrusters relatve to the centre of gravity (cg) of the satellite.
Moreover the hydrazine thrusters shall be placed with symmetry. This is so that instead of having one
thruster to produce a net moment, two may work in collaboraton to produce the same net moment
with less fuel and power consumed. The hydrazine thrusters to be used for the satellite shall be 1N
thrusters developed by Astrium [5].
For fne attude control, we shall use a system of gyroscopic reacton wheels. The partcular fnal
product is stll to be decided upon. However, the purchased gyroscopes must allow for three-axis
stabilizaton. There must be three light weight gyroscopes positoned perpendicular to one another, with
a fourth one positoned skew to the remaining three. This fourth wheel shall functon to remove spin
saturaton from any other, and also serve as a backup reacton wheel, should any of the others fail
Orbit Transfer and Position Control

The satellite will need a main engine for large changes in velocity. We need to therefore use a large
thruster suited to the job, with the best opton being a monopropellant 400N [6] Engine for the satellite.
The thruster shall be designed for both long term steady state and pulse mode operaton.
For fuel savings we need to use a propellant with a high specifc impulse, thus Hydrazine (once again) is a
good opton. The structure of the thrusters must also be designed to protect them from damage and
serve as a heat barrier for propellant valves. For the storage of the propellant we are going to use a BT 0-
01 [7] platorm Hydrazine Bladder Tank, so the system will not need an external pressurized system to
make the fuel fow to the thrusters since the propellant tank have a mechanism that keep contractng
the internal volume as the fuel is consumed. The tank has two operatonal modes: either blow-down
mode, or pressure regulated mode.
Thermal Equilibrium Balancing

Since the satellite is working in a vacuum environment, we need to maintain the internal temperature to
make all the components work in the operatng temperature, avoiding the temperature to reach the
minimum and maximum of the survival temperature to make an optmum fuctuaton of temperature as
necessary for the components.
For this, we must use some components to avoid heat transfers between the satellite and space since we
have the infuence of external agents, as the sun. For protect the satellite from thermal radiaton we
must use a Mult-Layer Insulaton of aluminum and kapton [8] to refect solar radiaton and also
prevent heat to enter the satellite structure. Also we can add louvers in the external structure, since they
are thermally actvated shuters that regulates the structural and electronic thermal environment during
the fight, they sense the temperature of a space radiator and react to control temperature and are
capable of operaton within an external environment range of -85C to 120C over 30,000 cycles with no
degradaton in performance [9]. Internally on the satellite we need also to add a cryogenic mult-layer
insulaton [10] at the propellant tank to avoid heat transfer with other components, since the propellant
is at a low temperature and we want to maintain an optmum temperature on the satellite interior.
Power generation, storage and regulation

Power will need to be generated to support the onboard electronics of the satellite to carry out the
mission. This energy will be generated by solar panels made by Emcore and this will have to generate
enough power to supply energy to:
Communicaton systems
Central control systems
Science instruments
Positoning and attude control electronics
The satellite will fy further away from the sun therefore the mission duraton is estmated to be the
window between satellite meetng the comet and tll they pass beyond the orbit of Mars, at which point
solar panels are deemed to be insufcient to power the entre system.
Given that the solar panels will be at 29.5% minimum average efciency [17], and intensity of light at
Mars is 589.2 W/m^2 [16] minimum surface area of solar panel needed at average distance of Mars orbit
will be about 3 m^2 (rounding up). This will ensure sufcient power when the satellite and comet are
closer to the sun. This is necessary to account for damaged solar cells and decrease in efciency over
tme. This electrical energy will be stored into Li-ion (or Lithium Polymer) batery so all the power output
is from the batery to regulate voltage supplied.
Communications

The factors that have been considered for the communicatons subsystem include:
Data transmission rate
Power consumpton
Directonal consideratons of transmissions
Interference due to Earths atmosphere.
The transponder that will be used is the X/X Deep Space Transponder, produced by Thales Alenia Space.
X-band frequency signals will be transmited, as higher data rates can be transmited, although they will
require more power. The transponders uplink frequency is in the range 7145-7235 MHz, and the
downlink frequency is 8400-8500 MHz.
The Antennas that will be used include four Low Gain Antennas, for receiving and transmitng signals to
and from Earth (uplink and downlink). Four LGAs have been decided upon so that there will always by an
antenna receiving signal from Earth, regardless of the spacecrafs attude. In additon, a 0.6m-diameter
High Gain Antenna will be responsible for transmitng data back to Earth (downlink). As the spacecraf
travels towards the comet, the Low Gain Antenna, which is omnidirectonal, will be used for tracking the
spacecraf and sending simple correctonal thrust commands to the spacecraf. Afer analysing the
comets compositon and making measurements using the scientfc instruments, the Low Gain Antenna
will be used to receive commands to rotate its attude so that the High Gain Antenna, which is one-
directonal, faces the Earth, at which point, the High Gain Antenna will transmit all the scientfc data
(such as images and spectral observatons) back to Earth.
Computer Control Systems

Choosing a microcontroller for any applicaton (including satellite) is completely subjectve. Each family
of micro controllers are programmed in diferent ways and have diferent hardware ports for
multplexing. This means that programmers will ofen select their microcontroller purely due to
familiarity. So, for our selecton, we are purely going to decide on the microcontroller FAMILY (not the
model itself) based on the following factors:
Voltage/power consumpton: very important that none of our component drain the power from
our satellite. The voltage consumpton must be as low as possible.
Pin count: Very important as more pins will allow more sensors and actuators to be integrated
Flash memory: this is where all the commands are programmed and stored. While not critcal in
having a larger Flash memory, it does lend itself to more fexibility when more sensors and
actuators are integrated in to the controller. Generally having a bigger Flash memory is beter.
Clock Speed: this determines the processors speed. Like the Flash memory, it is not critcal in
having high clock speed, but it does improve our processing speed and number of iteraton
sampling. This does give us a more accurate data faster, which is useful in emergency alttude
change, but does litle in getng our scientfc data since our data is independent of tme.
Some possible candidates includes:
RX family
o has Pin count range between 80~100 for a operatng voltage range between 1.5~2
o Clock speed is decent with frequency between 32~50 MHz
o Memory is also decent with 256~512KB ad RAM range between 8~64 KB
RL78 family
o has Pin count range between 80~144 for a operatng voltage range between 1.5~2
o Clock speed is decent with frequency of 32 MHz
o Memory is also decent with 256~512KB ad RAM range between 8~64 KB
78K Family
o has Pin count range between 80~144 for an operatng voltage range between 1.5~2
o Clock speed is 20 MHz
o Memory is decent with 128~512KB ad RAM range between 8~64 KB




Structure and Component Layout

For the satellite bus structure we antcipate that a cube-like structure will be the most efcient (and
easiest) to deal with. However in regards to component layout, all components must be arranged around
the satellite to achieve two aims:
1. Minimize overall mass moment of inerta of the satellite
2. Keep centre of gravity as close to the geometric centre of the satellite as possible (at all tmes)

In order to achieve this, the most logical arrangement would be to place the heavy mass components
symmetrical about the geometric centre, and have the light weight components spread out along the
edge of the satellite.
3. Life of the Satellite

From when we meet the comet tll we exceed the orbit of Mars
The mission length is planned to encompass the trajectory from the launch on Earth, to the comet,
which is approximately 200 days and also an alloted period of tme to analyze the comet and transmit
data back to Earth, which is planned to be 14 days. Thus, the total mission period is about 214 days, afer
which the spacecraf can be utlized for further missions, if fuel and power stll allow for it. Many of the
spacecraf components are designed to last for up to 15 years, far greater than the planned mission. In
additon, the spacecraf may lose efectve operaton or communicaton when the spacecraf is moved
beyond the radius of Mars orbit (estmated to be some number of days from the start of the mission),
due to the lack of intensity of light on the solar panels and that the bateries are predicted to last only a
few days if operated at 500 W.











4. References

[1] (htp://www.esa.int/esaMI/Roseta/SEMRHF374OD_0.html)
[2] (htp://www.esa.int/esaMI/Roseta/SEMYCF374OD_1.html)
[3] htp://www.astrium.eads.net/media/document/astrix-200.pdf
[4] htp://www.yorku.ca/bquine/pages/attude_determinaton_subsystem.htm
[5] htp://cs.astrium.eads.net/sp/spacecraf-propulsion/hydrazine-thrusters/1n-thruster.html
[6] htp://cs.astrium.eads.net/sp/spacecraf-propulsion/hydrazine-thrusters/400n-thruster.html
[7] htp://cs.astrium.eads.net/sp/spacecraf-propulsion/propellant-tanks/39-litre-hydrazine-bladder-
tank.html
[8] htp://www.dunmore.com/pdf/aerospace-brochure.pdf
[9] htp://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publicatons/TSD/Thermal_Louvers_Brochure.pdf
[10]
htp://www.ruag.com/space/Products/Satellite_Structures2C_Mechanisms_Mechanical_Equipment/The
rmal_Systems/Cryogenic_Insulaton_Coolcat
[11] htp://cs.astrium.eads.net/sp/spacecraf-propulsion/hydrazine-thrusters/20n-thruster.html
[12] htp://cs.astrium.eads.net/sp/spacecraf-propulsion/propellant-tanks/bladder-tanks.html
[13] htp://pdf.directndustry.com/pdf/holroyd-components/kapton/56398-149062.html
[14] htp://www.thermacore.com/design-center/documents/datasheets/Loop-Heat-Pipe-Data-Sheet.pdf
[15] htp://www.thermacore.com/design-center/documents/datasheets/k-Core-Data-Sheet.pdf
[16] page 8 (htp://www.nasa.gov/pdf/163008main_SESE_TeachersGuide__Part_dc3.pdf)
[17] htp://www.emcore.com/wp-content/themes/emcore/pdf/ZTJ_datasheet.pdf
[18] htp://www.eetmes.com/design/microcontroller-mcu/4235484/How-to-go-about-selectng-a-
microcontroller