Thermal control of spacecraft star sensor attitude control system based on the solution of a coupled thermoelasticity problem

• Main Authors: S. V. Tsaplin, S. A. Bolychev
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Samara National Research University 2016-07-01
• Series: Вестник Самарского университета: Аэрокосмическая техника, технологии и машиностроение
• Subjects: spacecraft; spacecraft attitude; star sensor; temperature field; strain field; angle deflection
• Online Access: https://journals.ssau.ru/vestnik/article/viewFile/3064/3003

The paper is devoted to the study of thermal control of the platform of star sensors designed for spacecraft attitude control under operating conditions. An optimal platform design with an arrangement of sensing elements is presented. The temperature field and the stress-strain state of the platform under the influence of heat sources is considered taking into account the operation of an air-conditioning system based on a numerical solution of a coupled thermoelasticity problem. The temperature field and the strain fields are calculated using the finite-element method with the help of the ANSYS software package. A finite-element model of the platform is developed on the basis of a geometric 3D model. The steady-state velocity field of the coolant in the platform channels is calculated at first. Then the temperature field of the platform is calculated with account for the coolant dynamics. The strained state of the platform under the influence of heat is calculated on the basis of the calculated temperature field. Angular deviations of the mounting seats of star sensors (2 degrees on the average) are determined as compared with the undeformed state. It is shown that angular deviations of the seats of star sensors do not exceed admissible limit values (5 arc seconds). Proposals for creating a high-precision star sensor position control system with a 1 arc second-accuracy are developed.