Free Vibration Analysis of Micro-Satellite Structure

In recent years satellites of small sizes have been in development. Since electronic components are miniaturized and efficient, it is possible to develop satellite of small dimensions. The spirit of development of the small satellite in the world has been encompassed by the slogan “faster, better, smaller, cheaper”. The classes of satellite, which have the mass ranging from 10–100 kg, is called the micro-satellite. There are number of analysis like sensitivity analysis, vibration analysis, dynamic analysis and thermal analysis to be carried out in the development of the micro satellite both theoretically and experimentally. This paper discusses the free vibration analysis of a micro-satellite of mass less than 60kg. The micro satellite considered for this analysis is a spinning cuboids structure of 600mmx600mmx600mm dimensions with 18 subsystems positioned so as to meet the C.G and M.I. constraints. Aluminium honeycomb sandwich panels are considered as the primary type of construction for the analysis with aluminium alloy angles as the joining members between various structural elements. To model the micro-satellite structure and to analyze the commercially available FEM software NASTRAN was used. Analysis was carried out for basic structure as well as for the satellite with subsystems to find whether the configuration satisfies the frequency constraints. The effect of subsystem locations and natural frequencies were studied. Also the effect of deck plate thickness on the natural frequency of the satellite structure was studied to arrive at a configuration with desirable vibration characteristics. These results can be used in performing the detailed static and dynamic analysis of the micro satellite structure in the future.