Development of a System Level Tool for Conceptual Design of Small Satellites

The process of developing a tool aiming for conceptual design of nano- and microsatellites is described. The various challenges and derived solutions are discussed. The final product offers systems engineers a fast way to analyze the feasibility of a particular design concept. The tool differs from existing tools in that it is specifically targeted at small satellites in the mass range of 1-50 kg. It is developed in Excel, and users interact with the tool in an intuitive manner through only one input and one output sheet. Required inputs include external interactions with the system such as payload, mission orbit, launcher and ground station. A set of design choices are implemented to guide users with different background knowledge. These choices have impact on the resulting satellite mass and power budgets, operating temperature envelope, attitude accuracy, propellant mass, received transmit power and data rate. Algorithms and scaling rules linking the input with the output parameters have been based on existing material, but have been revised and redefined based on an extensive satellite database containing about 200 satellites in the mass range of 0.1 – 50 kg, developed at TU Delft