Thermal Control of Turksat 3U Nanosatellite

This paper addresses design and analysis of 3U CubeSat satellite thermal control system. The main goal of this study is to ensure all the components will operate in their operating range of temperatures. A thermal control system of a 3U CubeSat at an altitude 600 km with an inclination of 98o is presented. 3U CubeSat is designed for a circular, near sun synchronous Low Earth Orbit. The dimensions of 3U CubeSat is 10cm x 10cm x 30cm and a weight of 4kg. The thermal model of CubeSat was built in ThermXL. The thermal control analysis of 3U CubeSat’s passive thermal control system has been conducted. A temperature distribution of the CubeSat was computed. Based on the results, the temperatures at hot case were within the range of operating but the temperatures at cold case were low. Therefore, the results show that temperatures are highly sensitive to surface coating of the CubeSat. Choosing the surface coating at the early stage of the design is recommended.