Title: Conceptual thermal design of a network of solar-powered Boardsat- and CubeSat-based landed spacecraft on Mars

Authors: Dukhang Lee; Thomas Young; Hugh Podmore; John E. Moores; Regina S.K. Lee

Addresses: Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto ON M3J 1P3, Canada; Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776, Daedeokdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34055, South Korea ' York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto ON M3J 1P3, Canada ' Honeywell Aerospace, 400 Maple Grove Rd, Kanata, ON K2V 1B8, Canada ' York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto ON M3J 1P3, Canada ' York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto ON M3J 1P3, Canada

Abstract: In this paper, we assess the feasibility of the neoPASCAL thermal design by performing thermal analysis. NeoPASCAL is a network of compact solar-powered landers on Mars which aim to validate Mars General Circulation Models (GCMs) by measuring the diurnal variations in surface pressure. It is a modern revision of the original Pascal mission proposed in 1996, with each science station being ten times smaller in size and mass (a kg or less) by using miniaturised commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic components and satellite platforms (i.e., Boardsat and CubeSat platforms). Despite the harsh thermal environments, the analysis shows that the Boardsat-based model can survive at ≤ ±60° latitude by using a large flexible-solar-cells-attached sail that was originally designed to attain soft landing. If successful, such a network would provide an unprecedented set of global meteorological data that can be used to investigate various meteorological phenomena including the general circulation.

Keywords: Mars lander; thermal design; picosat; low-cost planetary mission.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSPACESE.2020.110359

International Journal of Space Science and Engineering, 2020 Vol.6 No.2, pp.125 - 146

Received: 06 Sep 2019
Accepted: 22 Mar 2020
Published online: 15 Oct 2020 *

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