Presenter(s)

    Mohamed Ali Alsadig Mohamed

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    Description

    CubeSats are standard and modularized satellites that have gained widespread implementation among the scientific research community due to their low cost of manufacture and launch. The only source of energy for CubeSat missions are from solar arrays, which are coupled to rechargeable batteries that provide power during the shaded portion of the orbit. The goal of this research is to maximize the energy per weight ratio of solar array designs for a 3U CubeSat. The solar array configurations investigated include rigidly mounted to the CubeSat sides, and deployed with zero, one, and two degree of freedom, active positioning actuation schemes. Numerical models are created for multiple variations of geo-synchronous and sun-synchronous orbits, which are common for CubeSat missions. The results for orbit parameters and energy acquisition for rigid-mounted solar arrays are validated with commercially available orbital mechanics software (SDK). The various solar cell designs are evaluated based on their energy acquisition potential and actuation complexity and weight of design.

    Publication Date

    4-22-2021

    Project Designation

    Graduate Research

    Primary Advisor

    Dave Harry Myszka

    Primary Advisor's Department

    Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

    Keywords

    Stander Symposium project, School of Engineering

    United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

    Affordable and Clean Energy

    Optimization of Solar Array Positioning Actuators for Small Satellites

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