Thermal analysis of PANSAT

Abstract

The thermal control system of a spacecraft is designed to maintain all spacecraft components within their specified operating temperature limits throughout all phases of a spacecraft's mission. In order to verify and aid in such a design process, a thermal analysis of the system must be conducted. A thermal model of the spacecraft is used to simulate its behavior under given thermal environments and boundary conditions so that temperature predictions can be made. The focus of this thesis is to develop and analyze thermal models of PANSAT which describe its thermal behavior while it is in orbit and also prior to its insertion in its orbit (while it is still in the shuttle). The results of these analyses will serve to help in the thermal design and performance of PANSAT. This thesis completes the thermal model prerequisites of the STS 95 space shuttle mission hitchhiker program for PANSAT. The emphasis of this thesis is to develop a model that will allow the prediction of the temperatures of all the electrical components including the temperature sensitive electrical components of PANSAT such as batteries over a complete orbit of the satellite