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Princeton Satellite Systems

Tag: Toolboxes

  • Fission Powered Lunar Lander

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    Michael Paluszek
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    Settlements on the moon, for mining and scientific research, will require routine travel between lunar orbit and the lunar surface. One idea is to use a lunar shuttle with a nuclear fission rocket engine. The hydrogen fuel would come from water on the moon. Fission rockets have twice the specific impulse of the best chemical…

  • Comparing disturbance models

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    Stephanie Thomas
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    A customer recently asked us for help comparing the disturbance analysis available in the CubeSat Toolbox with the full model in SCT Professional, for a 3U CubeSat. That is, to compare CubeSatDisturbanceAnalysis to Disturbances. The CubeSat Toolbox uses a simplified model of the spacecraft geometry as a single set of fixed areas, nominally for a…

  • Reaction Wheel Friction Models

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    Michael Paluszek
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    Reaction wheels are used in many spacecraft for attitude control. A reaction wheel is a momentum exchange device because it controls the spacecraft by exchanging momentum with the rest of the spacecraft. Momentum is exchanged via a motor that is fixed to the spacecraft. As with all rotating parts it is subject to friction. Friction…

  • Two Stage to Orbit with the Launch Vehicle Toolbox

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    Michael Paluszek
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    The Launch Vehicle Toolbox (LVT) combines the Spacecraft Control Toolbox, the Aircraft Control Toolbox and additional libraries of launch vehicle functions and scripts. We’ve used it internally to support a number of contracts. We have studied two stage to orbit vehicles for a number of years. Our design, known as Space Rapid Transit, uses an…

  • Elements for a 2000 satellite constellation? No problem!

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    Stephanie Thomas
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    A customer recently asked if we had any constellation design tools in the toolbox, which at that point we did not. This customer had been tasked with simulating a constellation of nearly 2000 CubeSats, and had available only a GUI-based tool that required him to enter each satellite’s elements individually. He was able to clone…

  • SolidWorks Interface in SCT 2015.1

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    Michael Paluszek
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    Version 2015.1 will have a new DXF file format exporter to export CAD models built in the Spacecraft Control Toolbox into SolidWorks. The following figure shows the Lunar Lander model in the Spacecraft Control Toolbox CAD window. Exporting requires just two lines of code: g = BuildCADModel( ‘get model’ ); ExportDXF(g,’LunarLander’); Rodger Stephens of Prism…

  • Moon Lander Design

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    Michael Paluszek
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    Our last post showed the mission planning script for our lunar lander. The next step was to layout the lander. We did this using the BuildCADModel function in the Spacecraft Control Toolbox. The propulsion system is designed to meet the requirements of the mission plan. We use six 1 N HPGP thrusters for attitude control…

  • Spacecraft CAD Design in the Spacecraft Control Toolbox

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    Michael Paluszek
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    AutoDesk Inventor and SolidWorks are powerful software packages for the computer-aided design of spacecraft. Ultimately you need to use one of those packages for the mechanical design of your satellite, but what about the preliminary design phase when you are still determining what components you even need? The CAD software in the Spacecraft Control Toolbox can…

  • Simulating Magnetic Hysteresis Damping

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    Stephanie Thomas
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    CubeSats have caused a renewed interest in magnetic control of satellites, and passive hysteresis damping in particular. Modeling actual hysteresis rods on a satellite is not trivial, and generally requires empirical data on the properties of the rods selected. Our newest CubeSat simulation demonstrates damping using rods in LEO. A permanent magnet is modeled using…

  • Adaptive Cruise Control

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    Michael Paluszek
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    The automotive industry continues to incorporate advanced technology and control systems design into new vehicles. Features such as adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, autonomous park assist, and adaptive lights are becoming more common in the automotive market. These exciting technologies greatly increase vehicle safety! Adaptive cruise controls measure the distance and speed of nearby…