Abstract
The Small SAR Technology Experimental Project (S-STEP) mission aims to develop a new (space-based 80 kg-class active X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR)) satellite with a main imaging mode of 1 m resolution stripmap. In the S-STEP mission, to achieve the design goal of developing faster, cheaper, better, and lighter small SAR satellite systems, innovative thermo-mechanical design approaches have been proposed and investigated. The major design approaches are the bus-payload integrated flat plate-type structure, multifunctional transmit/receive (TR) module, and dedicated vibration-free orbit deployer (VFOD) with the function of whole spacecraft vibration isolation. To validate the feasibility of the innovative mechanical design of S-STEP, a structural analysis considering launch and on-orbit environments is performed. In addition, development test results are presented to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed design approach for VFOD.
Highlights
The start of a new space paradigm has changed the development philosophy in the space engineering field worldwide
One of the major accelerators for the new space paradigm is the emergence of small satellite constellations, providing all types of services over large geographical areas or spanning the entire globe [2]
The massive production capability of small satellites based on the standardized satellite platform, commercial grade on-board hardware, and multiple small satellites launched by using a ride-share program make the small satellite platform an attractive approach to realize various challenging missions that require high system temporal performance, such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging, real-time remote sensing, global internet services, and high-speed communications [3]
Summary
The start of a new space paradigm has changed the development philosophy in the space engineering field worldwide. In the new space era, this dramatic market growth has triggered collaboration with developers of small SAR satellite constellations because the technological advances in electronics and SAR image processing as well as high revisit rates have made SAR payloads compatible with small satellite platforms, meaning that small SAR satellite constellations can substitute for large SAR satellite missions. Saving the test duration for notching [16] can be anticipated in the launch vibration test, which takes a large portion of the time to create an adequate notched profile These potential advantages of the VFOD are attractive for the new space-based development trend to achieve the goal of cost-effective small satellite development.
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