Design and analysis of an innovative modular cubesat structure for ITU-pSAT II

Abstract

In this paper, we present the design and analysis of an innovative modular cubesat structure for ITU pSAT II mission. The design hinges on innovative modular structural columns which support rack-like operation for our ITU pSAT II nanosatellite. ITU pSAT II aims to demonstrate on-orbit a standardized bus architecture and an indigenous in-house developed ADCS. The envisioned structure provides the much needed flexibility to the satellite designers during the design, development and test cycle. Specifically, the structure allows the designers to change the location of subsytems or perform design modifications to the subystems without the need and the necessity to re-design the main structure. This new modular structure is also in accordance with standards that are determined by Cal Poly State University for the cubesats and thus carries one-to-one compatibility with launch pods. In this paper, we explain in detail the design and the analysis (FEM, quasi-static and modal) phase while step-by-step addressing deficiencies on the already developed and commercially available cubesat structures.