DELTA-SAT: THE CONCURRENT PRE-PHASE A DESIGN OF A THERMOSPHERIC EXPLORATION MICROSATELLITE

摘要

The ‘Microsatellite Engineering' Master course at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of the Delft Universityof Technology aims to bridge the gap between education and professional engineering practise by using a projectbasedapproach to space systems engineering education. The course comprised of a mission and microsatellite designproject, using collaborative engineering methodologies to achieve the design of a thermospheric explorationmicrosatellite. This paper details design process and resulting technical design of this microsatellite, ‘DELTA-Sat'.The project work entailed the simultaneous conceptual design of the physical and functional architecture of amicrosatellite. Emphasis was placed on payload requirements and engineering of the spacecraft bus functionalities,with design activities occurring within a rigorous systems engineering framework. Further work also addressedoverall mission design to support the development and operations of DELTA-Sat.The technical result of the DELTA-Sat exercise was the preliminary stage (Phase 0/Pre-Phase A) design of amicrosatellite and supporting mission architecture as a result of subsystem trade-offs. Subsystem designs weredefined for payload, propulsion, attitude determination and control system (ADCS), structural, thermal,communication, electrical power system (EPS), and command and data handling system (CDHS) aspects of thespacecraft. Additionally, mass and power budgets, a launch segment, and a life cycle cost estimation were alsodefined. The resulting system makes innovative use of drag-free technology to undertake measurements in the lowerthermosphere, while enjoying the advantages of reduced cost and development time offered by microsatellites. Inconclusion, the DELTA-Sat project allowed students to gain valuable experience in systems engineeringmethodologies by designing a novel microsatellite mission. The resulting DELTA-Sat design benefits from increasedsensitivity to subsystem interdependency and customer requirements, resulting from the collaborative nature of thedesign process.