` Applying System Engineering Paradigms to Develop a Robust Finite Element Analysis Model of a 12U CubeSat

Abstract

Compelled by the prospect of working in the exciting and revamped space industry, students join CubeSat projects to gain the skills and experience necessary to become competitive in the industry’s job market. The ultimate aim of both CubeSat development and the new Space industry, Space 2.0 is producing a spacecraft (S/C) faster at a cheaper cost without sacrificing S/C quality. The older space market had programs following a rigid development cycle to minimize the risk of ruining high-stake investments of a specific S/C program. Extensive and inflexible procedures in simulation and communication between sub teams would imprecate a program fragile to change in design parameters because of parameter relations and requirements for multiple stakeholders. Extra funding and schedule addition is required to pull a program out of such a quagmire. CubeSats and S/C meant for Space 2.0 do not have the luxury of copious resources and must produce a successful system in the confines of a limited schedule and funding source. In the case of educational CubeSat, engineers developing the system, more than likely, will be missing the expertise necessary to develop a S/C system. Constant changing of personnel in CubeSat programs also erase continuation and capability of development, adding to cost and time needed. Use of ontologies and other systems engineering paradigms can remedy these issues by enabling a S/C program to be more robust and agile to parameter changes while maintaining the same concerted effort to decrease risk by maintaining clear standards set forth by NASA and other stakeholders. This type of management of a S/C design and analysis is showcased in this thesis. It begins with an introduction to CubeSats and the supporting space industry to let the reader now of some basic functionality and the environment it will have to work in. System engineering, which essential in design the S/C, is introduced in the second chapter. It goes over fundamental aspects ii of different design processes and shows how it was used to come the current design of the our 12U CubeSat. The third chapter goes into the background of analyzing a structural bus through FEA simulation and hand calculations. It shows how our current design complies to NASA standards. Chapter 4 then goes to describe how system engineering paradigms were used to define methodical ways to analyze a structural bus of a CubeSat. Work from chapter 4 was used to create software to make modeling and analyzing CubeSats more efficient.