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Master Thesis - OUFTI-1

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2.4 Physical properties<br />

The physical properties (including CoG and inertia) are of primary importance for the<br />

denition of a 3-dimensional body. In addition, other students, like the ones in charge of<br />

ADCS [25] or MECH [24] subsystems, need them to perform their simulations.<br />

In this section, the Catia software will be used to determine theCoG location and<br />

inertia properties of <strong>OUFTI</strong>-1. When a complete engineering model of the satellite will be<br />

available, these values can be veried experimentally [31].<br />

2.4.1 Catia modeling<br />

Last year, a detailed model of the satellite was carried out using the Catia software [32].<br />

During this year, this model was rened to obtain the nal conguration of the satellite.<br />

This conguration is shown in Figure 2.20.<br />

This type of modeling, which is widely used in mechanical industries, presents several<br />

advantages:<br />

• Firstly, it allows to have an overall view of each component's location within the<br />

CubeSat. This is very helpful to verify that a given component could be placed at<br />

a specic location or to create an appropriate integration procedure for the satellite<br />

[33]. In addition, Catia les are compatible with the Samcef software [34], which is<br />

used to perform the FE analysis. So, the two can be combined to take the best of the<br />

two worlds (Catia for Computer-Aided Design (CAD) modeling and Samcef for FE<br />

analysis) and to facilitate the task of the engineer who is in charge of the structural<br />

subsystem.<br />

• Then, Catia can calculate several physical properties such as the location of the CoG<br />

(which is really helpful in our case considering the reference frame that we use) or<br />

the inertia properties. However, to be accurate, Catia requires the denition of each<br />

material used to manufacture the several components of the satellite.<br />

• Finally, Catia facilitates the creation of technical drawings.<br />

2.4.2 Center of gravity<br />

An other requirement imposed by the CubeSat standard is: "The CubeSat center of<br />

gravity shall be located within a sphere of 2 cm from its geometric center ". This requirement<br />

allows to ensure that each P-POD CoG remains located inside a specic volume.<br />

35

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