Engineering Commons^™

Modeling And Parameter Estimation Of Spacecraft Lateral Fuel Slosh, Yadira Rodriguez Chatman

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Predicting the effect of fuel slosh on spacecraft and launch vehicle attitude control systems has been a very important and challenging task and has been the subject of considerable research over the past years. Analytic determination of the slosh analog parameters has been met with mixed success and is made more difficult by the introduction of propellant management devices such as elastomeric diaphragms. The experimental set-up in this research incorporates a diaphragm in a simulated spacecraft fuel tank subjected to lateral slosh behavior. This research focuses on the parameter estimation of a SimMechanics model of the simulated spacecraft propellant tank …

A Constraint Based Approach For Building Operationally Responsive Satellites, Mesut O. Kahraman

Theses and Dissertations

The Operational Responsive Space (ORS) program requires flexible and responsive satellites to meet user’s needs. Traditional satellite design methods are typically iterative processes that optimize individual components, subsystems, and ultimately the entire satellite. This study focuses on developing a new approach for creating Responsive Satellites (RS) from Plug-and-Play (PnP) components. The aim is to create an approach that quickly evaluates a wide variety of possible satellite configurations and identify the best configurations that meet the user’s needs and constraints. Satellite configurations are created by matching locations on the satellite structure with PnP components. Various constraints are derived from the user’s …

Evaluation Of Nanocomposites As Lightweight Electronic Enclosures For Satellites' Applications, Benjamin T. Harder

Theses and Dissertations

The United States military is exploring the use of nanocomposite materials for satellite structural applications. Current composite spacecraft structures are nonconductive and must have expensive shielding materials applied in order to protect the spacecraft from catastrophic damage that can be caused by electromagnetic interference (EMI) and/or electrostatic discharge (ESD) which are characteristics of the space environment. Conductive nanocomposites are being developed for spacecraft structures that will provide ESD and EMI shielding protection without the need for expensive secondary shielding materials. This thesis studied one such material consisting of M55J/RS-3 composite combined with nickel nanostrands™. Four different configurations were tested for …

Development, Verification, And Future Applications Of A 3-Dof Entry And Descent Simulation Tool, Shaun Deacon

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

With any space related mission, the unknown effects are often some of the most important design considerations. These effects must be accounted for in some fashion, and often lead to mission elements being centered around gathering information on the unknown.

It is the purpose of this research to develop and test a tool for simulation of entry, descent, and landing, (EDL) and to present a brief analysis of possible dispersion patterns related to autonomous radiosonde deployment on the surface of Mars.

The EDL simulation tool is written in Matlab. The aerodynamic information used by the tool is obtained with the …

Space Based Satellite Tracking And Characterization Utilizing Non-Imaging Passive Sensors, Bradley R. Townsend

Theses and Dissertations

A technique is developed to determine the orbit of a sunlight illuminated satellite passing through the field-of-view of a sensor platform in a Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) and Geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The technique develops two different methods of initial orbit determination. The first relies on the Gauss initial orbit determination method to develop an estimate of the state from angular data. The second method relies on positional data of the target relative to the Earth’s background to determine an estimate of the state. These estimates are then refined in a non-linear least squares routine. This estimate of the state is …