This topic page covers mechanical and thermal design of spacecraft hardware - from full spacecraft to subsystems and components. Beyond the specific functional and interfacing requirements, mechanical design of smallsat hardware is primarily driven by dynamic and static structural loading experienced during launch. Thermal design is primarily driven by component temperature ratings and worst-case hot/cold states of the spacecraft, which is, in turn, driven by thermal dissipation of electronics and the dynamic thermal radiation environment on-orbit. The relative simplicity and compact nature of small satellites results in particularly close coupling between mechanical and thermal design, both at the spacecraft and subsystem-levels.
Resources under this topic area are primarily book chapters on relevant space hardware design topics and CAD tools for mechanical design.
The ratios of mass and volume allotted to CubeSats means that they are typically volume constrained, not mass constrained. So, when designing CubeSat structures or subsystems, focus on volumetric efficiency and choose performance and mechanical integration flexibility/accessibility over mass efficiency.
This chapter titled "Mountings and Interfaces" is a comprehensive reference regarding the thermal design ... and analysis of interfaces for space applications. It includes design guidance, formulas for modeling thermal interfaces, surface roughness values for various production methods, and thermal interface material properties.
This 3D CAD tool is comparable to Inventor and SolidWorks, but is cloud-based and takes a fundamentally ... different approach to system/assembly design. Fusion 360 is not as capable as these other tools at modeling of complex assemblies, but offers other advantages due to its cloud architecture and intuitive workflows.
Solid engineering graphics enable efficient technical communication among engineering teams. This resource ... provides background on different codes and standards for organizing drawings. It also supplies well-rounded summary of how to produce quality drawings. It covers topics like dimensioning, projection, and exploded and assembly views.
This book chapter, titled "Thermal Design" covers thermal design, analysis, and testing for LEO satellites. ... This includes background on the physics of heat transfer, thermal control hardware, and processes for thermal design, analysis, and testing. Note that this chapter is only 13 pages, and does not go into significant detail on any of the included topics.
This NASA manual provides the minimum acceptable requirements for engineering drawings of flight hardware ... and ground support systems. From basic drawing definitions to unit details and cross-section diagrams, this document provides detailed information on what is required to completed engineering drawings of spacecraft based on GSFC standards.
This book from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) discusses the standards applicable ... to the preparation and revision of engineering drawings, whether manual or computer-aided.
This software tool can be used to model 3D objects directly in the context of its real-life behavior. ... The available modeling tools provide quality and performance insights in the early stages of the product development life-cycle. Systems engineers can easily develop models and leverage model-based systems engineering principles to design, simulate, and validate complex models. Compared to most other mechanical CAD tools, CATIA is exceptional at handling large, complex systems.
This is a relatively easy to learn and powerful 3D CAD tool for mechanical design of components and assemblies. ... This tool is comparable to Autodesk Inventor. Optional SolidWorks Simulation capabilities can be integrated to provide relatively user-friendly thermal and structural analysis within the CAD design tool user interface.
This 3D CAD tool is relatively easy to learn and can be used for mechanical design, documentation, and ... product simulation and analysis. This tool is comparable to SolidWorks 3D CAD. Autodesk provides a suite of software tools that can be integrated for greater collaboration within an engineering team.
This annual state-of-the-art report from NASA provides "a survey of small spacecraft technologies sourced ... from open literature" with an introduction to each technology, development status and performance metrics for procurable systems, and descriptions of new technologies with reference missions. Section 7 covers thermal control technologies.
This annual state-of-the-art report from NASA provides "a survey of small spacecraft technologies sourced ... from open literature" with an introduction to each technology, development status and performance metrics for procurable systems, and descriptions of new technologies with reference missions. Section 6 of this report covers structures, mechanisms, and material technologies.
This software tool accurately models the radiative heat transfer and surface optical properties of a ... satellite. It has been used for decades by the European Space Industry and is a highly reliable tool for spacecraft thermal modeling. "ESATAN-TMS contains a powerful and fully optimised ray-tracing algorithm to accurately predict the radiative couplings between surfaces of the spacecraft and the environment."
This standard provides the minimum materials and manufacturing process requirements to be followed for ... all NASA spacecraft. It covers the design, fabrication, and testing of flight hardware flown by NASA; however, the requirements in this document can inform mechanical manufacturing and assembly practices for all smallsat developers.