Low earth orbit nanosatellite: influence of heat dissipation on passive thermal analysis

Abstract

The use of small satellites in ambitious missions presents challenges related to thermal breakdowns as one of the critical issues contributing to their failure. Heat dissipation and thermal management are still the major challenges in nanosatellite systems design. To meet the thermal stability requirements, it becomes statutory to manage passive and active thermal control to reach this goal while a variety of factors, such as high-powered components, sunlight and shadow on orbit, or a tight spacecraft layout, remain imposed.A spherical nanosatellite thermal analysis was performed to show the effect of energy dissipation in a low earth orbit and the stability of the system with a special attention to batteries, which persist as the weak link among electronics parts. Additionally, a set of different material coatings was used to demonstrate their impact on the nanosatellite’s thermal behaviour, hence highlighting their importance while designing such a spacecraft.