Spacecraft Design

This note provides a high-level summary of the Spacecraft Design lecture.

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Contents

• The iterative design process for spacecraft.
• Major design drivers such as mass, power, cost, schedule, reliability, and lifetime.
• A breakdown of key subsystems and their interdependencies.
• Configuration alternatives in spacecraft design.
• How spacecraft budgets are estimated and managed.

Below you will find links to sub-pages for each specific area:

Lecture Overview

1. **Design Process & Iteration**

   • Mission objectives and payload requirements drive initial architecture.
   • Multiple trade-offs between mass, power, cost, schedule, and reliability.
   • Documentation and stakeholder communication are critical at every phase.

2. Design Drivers

   • Mass: Heavily influences launch vehicle choice and cost.
   • Power: Solar arrays vs. RTGs and their ripple effects on thermal, mass, and cost.
   • Cost & Schedule: Dictate depth of testing, technology readiness, and iterative loops.
   • Reliability & Lifetime: Influence redundancy, component quality, and testing rigor.

   

3. Spacecraft Subsystems

   • Each subsystem (e.g., propulsion, ADC, power, thermal, structures, TT&C, onboard processing) must integrate seamlessly to meet mission goals.

4. Configuration Alternatives

   • Different attitude control methods (spin-stabilized vs. three-axis).
   • Solar array setups (fixed, deployable, sun-tracking).
   • Antenna placements for TT&C.

5. Spacecraft Budgets

   • Mass, propellant, power, pointing, and data budgets ensure the design remains feasible.
   • Each budget is tracked with built-in margins and contingencies to handle uncertainties.

Key Takeaways

• Spacecraft design is iterative—new data and changing requirements continuously refine the spacecraft’s architecture.
• Trade-off analyses are vital for reconciling competing constraints: mass ↔ power ↔ cost ↔ reliability ↔ schedule.
• Subsystems must be coordinated to avoid local optimizations that jeopardize overall mission success.
• Budgets (mass, power, data, propellant) are crucial and carry contingency to manage design risks.

Learning Objectives

Area	Skills & Knowledge
Design Process	- Understanding the iterative design cycle

• Linking mission objectives to bus development
• Translating payload requirements into design decisions | | Design Drivers | - Evaluating mass constraints
• Analyzing power requirements
• Managing cost limitations
• Handling schedule constraints
• Setting reliability targets
• Planning for mission lifetime
• Understanding driver interdependencies | | Subsystem Integration | - Identifying major spacecraft subsystems
• Analyzing subsystem interdependencies
• Managing integration challenges between propulsion, attitude control, power, thermal, and other systems | | Configuration & Architecture | - Comparing spacecraft configurations
• Evaluating attitude control options
• Assessing propulsion alternatives
• Analyzing solar array layouts
• Optimizing communication systems
• Understanding performance impacts | | Budget Management | - Developing mass budgets
• Calculating power requirements
• Managing propellant budgets
• Defining pointing requirements
• Planning data handling capacity
• Monitoring design evolution |

Tenzins Spacecraft design overview