Session
Technical Session VII: Student Scholarship Competition
Abstract
To support focused science and engineering micromissions, spacecraft bus designs should minimize mass and maximize design flexibility without reducing capability. This requires a highly efficient spacecraft structure to maintain the required stiffness with a minimal mass. In the following presentation, two design approaches are evaluated for the structure of the Florida Space Institute’s nanosatellite bus. One design uses sandwich construction exclusively, representing the current level of spacecraft structures. The other design uses a cast aluminum primary structure, which is a new approach for nanosats. Based on the evaluation of these two structures, the cast aluminum design is selected for FSI’s upcoming micromission, which will demonstrate a JPL microthruster with funding from the Florida Space Grant Consortium.
The Design and Feasibility Study of Nanosatellite Structures for Current and Future FSI Micromissions
To support focused science and engineering micromissions, spacecraft bus designs should minimize mass and maximize design flexibility without reducing capability. This requires a highly efficient spacecraft structure to maintain the required stiffness with a minimal mass. In the following presentation, two design approaches are evaluated for the structure of the Florida Space Institute’s nanosatellite bus. One design uses sandwich construction exclusively, representing the current level of spacecraft structures. The other design uses a cast aluminum primary structure, which is a new approach for nanosats. Based on the evaluation of these two structures, the cast aluminum design is selected for FSI’s upcoming micromission, which will demonstrate a JPL microthruster with funding from the Florida Space Grant Consortium.
