The mission objective of STEP Cube Lab. (Cube Laboratory for Space Technology Experimental Project) classified as a pico-class satellite is to verify the technical effectiveness of payloads such as variable emittance radiator, SMA washer, oscillating heat pipe and MEMS based solid propellant thruster researched at domestic universities. In addition, the MEMS concentrating photovoltaic power system and the non-explosive holding and separation mechanism with the advantages of high constraint force and low shock level will be developed as the primary payloads for on-orbit verification. In this study, the feasibility of the mission actualization has been confirmed by the preliminary system design.
MEMS solid thruster module is composed of solid thruster and its control board. It was developed for the purpose of an academic research. Therefore, thermo-mechanical design and verification for space usage were not considered in the design phase. To mount it on a cube satellite without any design modification, technical efforts at the system level structure design is required. In this study, we proposed a structural design concept to mount the MEMS thruster module by using brackets for guaranteeing structure safety under launch loads and easier mating and de-mating of MEMS thruster module during test phase. The effectiveness of the design has been verified through structural analysis and vibration test. In addition, electrical connection method using spring pins between MEMS thruster and control board is effective for guaranteeing the structural safety under launch vibration loads.
A UHF/VHF full-duplex communication using monopole and dipole antenna has been widely used for cube satellite applications. This kind of communication system requires a dedicated structure panel for antenna integration, which is the one of the disadvantages of the conventional communication system from the accommodation point of view considering the extremely limited volume of the cube satellite. In this study, to maximize the accommodation efficiency of the cube satellite, the commercial UHF half-duplex antenna combined with buck converter for communication modes transition has been considered in the communication system design. Its effectiveness has been verified through link budget analysis based on the antenna specifications and satellite's operation conditions. In addition, the antenna deployment mechanism for the synchronous release of multi-antennas has also been introduced.
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