Overview of course structure
Course subject(s)
0. Course Introduction
Below you find the structure of the full course, that can be accessed via the Online Learning site. The course consists of three main segments as listed below. Here on Open Course Ware only part of the first two segments is available in the form of recorded lectures and the slides.
The technology is discussed at a component level with their working principles explained as well as their relation to the subsystem requirements and constraints. Calculations for the key characteristics of the components demonstrated prior to practical work by the students using primarily physical relations rather than general/empirical scaling rules. The three online modules are complemented by interactive Hangout sessions.
- Onboard Command and Data Handling including the specifications of microprocessors; commonly used data interfaces within spacecraft; the effects of radiation on processors and methods to deal with them; operational scheduling; failure detection, isolation and recovery).
- Electrical Power Technology covering the selection and implementation of photovoltaic cells; different types of power conversion and distribution methods; battery technology; common failure modes and protection.
- Attitude Determination and Control. General principles of sensing and actuation in space; types and basic principles of AOCS algorithms; working principles, design, types and characteristics of sun sensors, magnetometers, star trackers, gyroscopes, reaction wheels, magnetorquers, etc.
- Structures and deployable craft looking at structural concepts; structural materials; deployment mechanisms, etc.
- Thermal Control – both passive and active thermal control mechanisms and components.
- The basics of telecommunication and the main components of radios.
The emphasis is on technology rather than theory with examples of hardware shown whenever possible during the lectures. The lectures on liquid propellant engines and solid propellant engines will be structured in such a way to be a complement, and not an overlap, to the previous BSc courses of the Aerospace Engineering curriculum. The three online modules are complemented by interactive Hangout sessions.
- Applied Theory covering the fundamentals of rocket propulsion, main performance parameters of rockets and thrusters, ideal rocket theory basics and equations and types of propulsion are reviewed and applied to real-life cases and practical demonstrations.
- Liquid Propellant Engines looks at types of engines, types of propellants, components of the feeding system, nozzle design, quality factors and real performance estimation.
- Solid Propellant Engines covers types of solid propellants, ignition and burning characteristics of the propellant, hybrid rockets and pressure instabilities and real performance estimation.
- Electric and Advanced Propulsion reviews the basics of electric propulsion theory, types of electric thrusters, components and characteristics of an electric propulsion subsystem and advanced propulsion concepts
- Micro-Propulsion covers the available micro-propulsion options, the criteria for scaling-down propulsion systems, specific propulsion requirements and performance needs in nanosatellites, micro-machining of nozzles, heaters and feeding system components.
Students will form groups of 5-7 members and work at a CubeSat design problem. Starting from the general mission description and requirements, provided as input, the group will design the complete satellite architecture up to pre-Phase A stage. Wherever possible, they will select commercially available subsystems and components. If necessary, new still-to-be-developed technologies can be considered and justified.
Weekly sessions of 2 hours each (in-class or online) will be scheduled. After working at the conceptual study, the team will deliver a short report with an overview of selected technologies, budgets, timeline and explanation and justification of the choices made. This report will be reviewed by the instructors, thus making the first design iteration for the team. During the final session, all teams will present and discuss their solutions with the others. Based on the outcomes of this discussion, the teams will then write an additional 1-2 page addendum, in which they will critically compare their own design to those proposed by other groups.
The students will be graded by a digital online exam via online proctoring, and a report. The exam (presently scheduled on February 3) determines 80% of the final grade and comprises questions on the first two components of the course. The report determines 20% of the final grade and relates to the CubeSat Design Workshop. It will be graded for each group based on (1) the quality of the concept and (2) the critical comparison of the concept to those proposed by other groups.
Linear Modelling by TU Delft OpenCourseWare is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://ocw.tudelft.nl/courses/spacecraft-technology/.