Desarrollo de un sensor de partículas para la misión espacial FACIS en la LEO

Abstract

[ES] Diseño CAD mediante CATIA V5 de la estructura del sensor así como de los distintos componentes seleccionados para el posterior testeo del funcionamiento del sensor. Análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo de los componentes seleccionados teniendo en cuenta diversos factores.

[EN] The following Master Thesis is focused on the study and development of a dust sensor and the acomplishment of the different requirements but also regarding the limitations of the FACIS mission. The main limiting factor is the size of the sensor, which should not exceed the space left for its assembly in previous conceptual designs of the satellite. The size of the sensor was thought to be around 10 × 10 × 10cm3 . One of the challenges to face during the development of the sensor will be to find suitable components that can be produced with a good cost to performance ratio. As a second step, the structural design will be focused in a modular laboratory model to have the possibility of testing different components to validate the conceptual design. On the first hand, the study will be focused on the understanding of the operation of a dust sensor, adcquiring knowdlege based on other prototypes, so as to set the starting point of the project. Also it will be important to take into account issues such: the use of different materials, the interaction between them, the small available space inside the satellite... but also bearing in mind further limitations that cannot be forgoten, such as sensitivity, wiring or manufacture possibilities. Besides, the conceptual study developed by Dr. Srama will be taken into account. On the other hand, it is crucial to minimize the costs of the production while comparing different designs and deciding wheter to buy or to manufacture certain components given the quotation of different companies. One of the main goals of this Thesis is to achieve a solution to include all the required components by minimizing costs, but at the same time respecting the limitations. Therefore some studies are made to estimate important parameters such as the field of view of the sensor, the production of some components or the mass resolution optimization. With the combination of the CAD files and all these studies, it will be much easier to compute next design iterations, to do all the experimental analysis. Finally, future lines of investigation will be proposed to assure an accurate final design.