Projecte assignat
Títol: Analysis of PhotSat's Drag Coefficient with Sparta
Director/a: GUTIÉRREZ CABELLO, JORDI
Departament: FIS
Títol: Analysis of PhotSat's Drag Coefficient with Sparta
Data inici oferta: 03-05-2024 Data finalització oferta: 03-01-2025
Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
MU AEROSPACE S&T 21
| Tipus: Individual | |
| Lloc de realització: EETAC | |
| Segon director/a (UPC): GIL PONS, PILAR | |
| Paraules clau: | |
| Small satellites, drag, drag coefficient, direct simulation Monte Carlo, Free molecular flow | |
| Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats: | |
| Drag experienced by satellites in the thermosphere (the atmospheric layer between 80 and about 600 km above sea level) is one of the leading orbital and attitudinal perturbations. Despite its relevance, the environmental conditions and the complex geometries of satellites greatly hinder drag's determination
from first principles. The thermosphere is an extremely diluted gas, to which the usual continuum hypothesis can not be applied. Instead, the gas is described as a collection of independent, non-collisional particles. This regime is the so-called free molecular flow (FMF), and there exist some unresolved difficulties in its mathematical description. In addition, experimental setups that mimic thermospheric conditions are very difficult to implement. Therefore, it becomes necessary to determine the drag (or, more specifically, the drag coefficient) using numerical simulations. The present work focuses on the analysis of the drag and the torque experienced by the PhotSat satellite, a 12U CubeSat for astronomical applications currently under design at the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya. To simulate the drag experienced by a body immersed in an FMF flow, we will use SPARTA, a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo code which is becoming a standard among the space environment community. As a first test, we will determine the drag experienced by a sphere in FMF in a range of altitudes. Once our use of SPARTA is mastered and properly tested, we will use a CAD model of PhotSat to analyse the effects of the FMF under different attitude conditions. As the main result from our analysis, we expect to constrain the elusive drag coefficient of satellites in thermospheric conditions, and thus set the basis for a better understanding of their dynamics. |
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| Orientació a l'estudiant: | |
| Requereix activitats hardware: No | |
| Requereix activitats software: Sí Sistema operatiu: Linux Disc (Gb): | |
| Horari d'atenció a estudiants per a l'assignació de projecte: |
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