Session
Advanced Technologies 4- Enterprise
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
With the development and consolidation of new space exploration solutions, new operational scenarios are enabled, and with them new challenges arise. This paper describes the design drivers, process and achieved features of the newly developed CURIE Power Conversion and Distribution Unit (PCDU), aiming at deep-space CubeSat-operated critical missions. Born from cooperation between Argotec and the Power Electronics unit of the European Space Agency (ESA), this power unit is going to be employed on the HEliospheric pioNeer for sOlar and interplanetary threats defeNce (HENON) mission by ESA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), aiming at demonstrating new solutions for near real-time in-situ monitoring and alerting of solar events of interest. The power unit is designed, engineered and manufactured around few important design drivers. The first is robustness against all possible faults and degradation caused by exposure to space radiation, crucial deep-space missions, guaranteeing a minimum Destructive Single-Event Effects LET threshold (LETth) of 38 MeV*cm2/mg and a minimum Total Ionizing Dose (TID) sensitivity threshold of 30krad(Si). The second design driver is high-power management capabilities: having nominal power output of 250W, the PCDU enables both basic and scientific operations but also more power-intensive applications like accelerated on-board data processing and electric propulsion. In fact, in the HENON mission (planned for launch in Q4 2026) CURIE power unit will permit a 396-days long transfer phase to the target Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) in the Sun-Earth system, exploiting a mission-specific electric propulsion system. Another key design driver for CURIE are volume reduction, functional modularity and performance scalability, enabling a Suite of products: thanks to a VPX-like structure with a full-mesh backplane, the flight model volumetric envelop reaches 2U (145x120x109 mm) in its most complete configuration, but allows different mixed solutions of primary conversion and distribution boards based on the platform intended needs. As a result, the combination of performance, functionalities, modularity and the reduced form factor offered by the CURIE Suite make the system compatible with a vast set of uses, ranging from small CubeSat platforms but also targeting larger microsatellites with higher power demands and specific needs in terms of power conversion. For the Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer (LUMIO) mission by ESA, to be launched as early as Q1 2026, this power unit will be employed in an alternative primary conversion configuration achieving an even smaller volume envelope. Engineering Model testing of CURIE is under way in Q2 2025 with promising preliminary results, FM production is foreseen for Q4 2025.
Document Type
Event
CURIE Power Suite: Enabling Deep Space High-Power CubeSat Exploration
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
With the development and consolidation of new space exploration solutions, new operational scenarios are enabled, and with them new challenges arise. This paper describes the design drivers, process and achieved features of the newly developed CURIE Power Conversion and Distribution Unit (PCDU), aiming at deep-space CubeSat-operated critical missions. Born from cooperation between Argotec and the Power Electronics unit of the European Space Agency (ESA), this power unit is going to be employed on the HEliospheric pioNeer for sOlar and interplanetary threats defeNce (HENON) mission by ESA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), aiming at demonstrating new solutions for near real-time in-situ monitoring and alerting of solar events of interest. The power unit is designed, engineered and manufactured around few important design drivers. The first is robustness against all possible faults and degradation caused by exposure to space radiation, crucial deep-space missions, guaranteeing a minimum Destructive Single-Event Effects LET threshold (LETth) of 38 MeV*cm2/mg and a minimum Total Ionizing Dose (TID) sensitivity threshold of 30krad(Si). The second design driver is high-power management capabilities: having nominal power output of 250W, the PCDU enables both basic and scientific operations but also more power-intensive applications like accelerated on-board data processing and electric propulsion. In fact, in the HENON mission (planned for launch in Q4 2026) CURIE power unit will permit a 396-days long transfer phase to the target Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) in the Sun-Earth system, exploiting a mission-specific electric propulsion system. Another key design driver for CURIE are volume reduction, functional modularity and performance scalability, enabling a Suite of products: thanks to a VPX-like structure with a full-mesh backplane, the flight model volumetric envelop reaches 2U (145x120x109 mm) in its most complete configuration, but allows different mixed solutions of primary conversion and distribution boards based on the platform intended needs. As a result, the combination of performance, functionalities, modularity and the reduced form factor offered by the CURIE Suite make the system compatible with a vast set of uses, ranging from small CubeSat platforms but also targeting larger microsatellites with higher power demands and specific needs in terms of power conversion. For the Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer (LUMIO) mission by ESA, to be launched as early as Q1 2026, this power unit will be employed in an alternative primary conversion configuration achieving an even smaller volume envelope. Engineering Model testing of CURIE is under way in Q2 2025 with promising preliminary results, FM production is foreseen for Q4 2025.
