Nanosatellite: A progressive vision of performing passive thermal control

It is always known that nanosatellites, a newly emerging pint-sized form of satellites, feature the smaller envelope size, the lower cost, with the shorter development time. Yet still that, they cope with different issues namely high thermal gradients or different thermal loads. The prediction of thermal behavior is almost conducted by the way of simulation that should be well performed in order to obtain reliable results. This paper aims to describe the different types of heat radiation that the nanosatellite incurs, and then accurately simulate them with consideration or not of the nanosatellite heat dissipation. The nanosatellite’s passive thermal control has been conducted considering the material’s optical coatings change. A preliminary approach consisting of a simple form of the nanosatellite in order to obtain tangible results has been established while envisaging a more complex and complete geometry in the future. Based on the results, the temperatures at both cases, namely the heat-dissipating case and the non-dissipating heat case, are almost at the batteries’ range of operating with minor adjustments to avoid getting out of tolerated temperature limits. Therefore, the results show that temperatures are highly sensitive to the surface coating of the nanosatellite. That is why choosing the surface coating at the early stage of the design is highly recommended.