Mission Design for the CubeSat OUFTI-1

CHAPTER1INTRODUCTIONThis work represents the feasibility study for the CubeSat OUFTI-1, the firststep of the LEODIUM Project of the University of Liège, Belgium.The goals of the project are soon introduced, as well as an explanation of theOUFTI-1 mission, including the concepts of CubeSat and amateur radio. Thena description of all the satellite subsystems is treated, with the attention concentratedon the mission analysis. For each subsystem an analysis of the operationalconditions is carried out and the foreseen solutions are presented.We start with the mission analysis as it is the subsystem that mainly influencesall the others. We pass then to the structure and deployment system, that arecommercial off-the-shelf elements, and to the attitude control system, which isthe most controversial subsystem for the OUFTI-1 satellite project. Then astudy on the power produced in orbit is carried out to determine if we haveenough power to supply our satellite. Afterward the thermal system is introducedand the solutions to control the satellite temperature are presented. Thelast subsystem is the communication system which is especially important asit also represents the CubeSat payload: with a link budget we find out if thesatellite has enough power to communicate with the earth.At the end, the tests philosophy is explained and a choice of possible payloadsfor the future missions of LEODIUM Project is introduced.13