Thermal Performance Assessment of a CubeSat under Worst-Case Cold Orbital Conditions

Thermal control is one of the most critical aspects of CubeSat design, as onboard electronic components must operate within their allowable temperature limits throughout the mission. In this study, the thermal performance of a ۶U CubeSat under the worst-case cold orbital environment is numerically investigated using a finite element thermal model. The analysis considers orbital heat balance, internal power dissipation, and radiative heat exchange between spacecraft components. Temperature distributions of the satellite structure and all critical subsystems were obtained throughout the transient cold-case thermal analysis. The predicted minimum temperatures are compared with the allowable operating temperature limits of the corresponding components to evaluate the thermal safety margin. The results indicate that the proposed passive thermal control design is capable of maintaining all critical components within their acceptable operating temperature ranges during the worst-case cold scenario. The developed thermal model can be used as an effective design tool for evaluating CubeSat thermal performance during the early stages of spacecraft development.

کلیدواژه ها:

CubeSat ، Thermal Analysis ، Cold Case ، Finite Element Method ، Spacecraft Thermal Control