UNIT-II SPACE SEGMENT

Spacecraft Technology- Structure

 The satellite communication can be broadly divided into
two categories
1) Space segment
2) Earth segment or ground segment
 The space segment will obviously include the satellites, but
it also includes the ground facilities needed to keep the
satellites operational, these being referred to as the
tracking, telemetry, and command (TT&C) facilities.
 The equipment carried aboard the satellite also can be
classified according to function.
Pay load - equipment used to provide the service for
which the satellite has been launched.
Transponder- provide the connecting link between
satellites transmitter and receiver
antenna.
 Spacecraft Technology- Structure
Structure of spacecraft
 Hold the entire structure together
 to withstand a variety of loads

Parameters affecting the structure

 Accelerations, Centrifugal stresses, thermal stresses,
operating thrusts and particle radiation.
 Spacecraft Technology- Structure
Design of the structure
 withstand all forces and stresses
 able to hold all the satellite subsystem
 weight must be less than 6% of total weight
Typical structures
 Spacecraft Technology- Structure
Material used
Some of the common materials used for designing a
structure are
Aluminum, magnesium, stainless steel,
Invar, titanium, beryllium etc.

Mass of the structure

 decreases if satellite gets larger and it is body stabilized.
 increases if satellite diameter increases and it is spin
stabilized.
 Primary power
 The primary electrical power for operating the electronic
equipment is obtained from solar cells.
 Individual cells can generate only small amounts of power,
and there force, arrays of cells in series-parallel connection
are required.
 The primary power to operate the electronic equipments are
1) Solar cell (mostly used)
2) Nuclear cell
Solar cell- individual cell can produce less power.
Solar panel- Series parallel combination of solar cells
arrangement.
Cylindrical satellite (partially exposed to sun)
 outer panel and telescoped panel
 produce less power(spin stabilized satellite)
Solar sail type satellite(fully exposed to sun)
 rectangular solar sails
 to achieve high power.
Nuclear source
• Used where the solar energy will be feeble
It includes two types
• Steam generating station
• Radio isotope thermoelectric generator(RTG)
• Steam generating station
• Nuclear reactor consist of boiler which heats mercury
• Vapors generated and it helps to drive the turbine -
alternator
Radio isotope thermoelectric generator(RTG)

It heats lead telluride thermocouples to generate electricity.

But it generates less power.

Advantages
Both methods doesn’t require battery supply during eclipse.

Disadvantages
It requires substantial shielding

Examples

Curium 244, plutonium – costlier, require little shielding

strontium 90 – cheaper but dangerous fuel.
 ATTITUDE AND ORBIT CONTROL
Attitude control
The attitude of a satellite refers to its orientation in space.
Needs of Attitude control
 ensure the directional antenna points in proper direction.
 ensure required regions of earth has been covered.
 Keep the solar panel or arrays pointed towards the sun.
Disturbance forces – solar radiation, gravitational field of
earth and moon, motors and movement of antennas.
Infra red sensor (horizon detectors)
 All attitude control systems require sensors. The resolution of
these sensors that limits the ultimate pointing accuracy of the
spacecraft.
 four sensors with respect to earth's centre. Any shift in
orientation is detected by one or other of the sensors, and a
corresponding signal is generated which activates a restoring
torque.
 attitude maneuver(generated from earth station to perform
desired shift in attitude.)
 Attitude control
Two types – Passive and active
Passive
 Use of mechanisms which stabilize the satellite without
putting a drain on the satellites energy supplies.
 spin stabilization (mostly used) and gravity gradient
stabilization.
 With spin stabilization, the entire spacecraft rotates around
its own vertical axis, spinning like a top.
 Gravity-gradient stabilization is a method of stabilizing
artificial satellites or space tethers in a fixed orientation using
only the orbited body's mass distribution and gravitational
field.
Active
 corrective torque are applied against disturbance torque.
 momentum wheel(mostly used), EM coil and mass expulsion
devices.
 Attitude control-Roll, Pitch and
Yaw axes

 The yaw axis is directed toward the earth’s centre, the pitch
axis is normal to the orbital plane, and the roll axis is
perpendicular to the other two.
 RPY axes for geo stationary
• RPY axes for the geostationary orbit. Here, the roll axis is
tangential to the orbit and lies along the satellite velocity
vector.
 Spinning stabilization satellite
 It can be achieved with cylindrical satellite.
 It can be constructed as to mechanically balanced about
one axis.
 Small gas jets or impulse type thrusters are used to adjust
the spin rate.
 Nutation- unsteadiness in moving. Nutation dampers are
used to avoid the nutation.
HS 376
 Momentum wheel stabilization
 It can be used for non-cylindrical bodies or cube like bodies.
Momentum wheel consist of

 Flywheel- attached to rotor and body of satellite attached to

stator.
 Bearing – controlled lubrication for the full time of the satellite.
 Casing – protect the wheel from undesired environmental
effects.
Momentum bias
 wheels are operated at non zero momentum. the average
momentum is termed as momentum bias.
Types- one, two , three wheel stabilization.
 One wheel momentum stabilization
Definition - Only a single wheel is used to control the
satellite's orientation.
Pitch momentum wheel
 Axis of rotation of the wheel is along with the pitch axis.
 pitch axis can be controlled by changing the speed of the
wheel.
 Two wheel momentum stabilization
Two wheel stabilization - Stabilization is achieved with
two wheel yaw and pitch wheel.
 Three wheel momentum stabilization
Three wheel (Reactor wheel)stabilization - Stabilization
is achieved with three axis, roll, yaw and pitch wheel.
 Telemetry, Tracking and
command (TT&C)
 The three related functions, telemetry, tracking (including
range measurements) and command, are usually grouped
into one subsystem called telemetry, tracking and
command (TT&C) or alternatively telemetry, tracking,
command and ranging (TTC & R).
 All three are essentially communications functions.
Telemetry
 The satellite condition must be known on the ground at all
times. Its usual to choose some hundreds of points around
the spacecraft and measure such quantities as
 Voltage
 Currents
 Temperatures
 Pressures
 The status of switches and solenoids
 Telemetry, Tracking and
command (TT&C)
Tracking
Beacon transmitters are usually provided on the spacecraft
for tracking during launch and operations.
This transmitter can also carry telemetry signals and range
signal turnaround and command verifications.
Commands
Commands are necessary for many functions during manual
operation, specifically,
 Transponder switching,
 Station keeping
 Attitude changes
 Gain control
 Redundancy control
TT&C
 PROPULSION SUBSYSTEM
Communication satellite
requires propulsion subsystem to maintain a proper
orientation, spin rate, inject itself into geo orbit and
maintain itself by station keeping.
Hydrazine (N2H4)
a liquid propellant used to transfer and drift orbit
maneuvers.
It is colorless and clear liquid, boiling point 1140C and
freezing point 20C
Two types
• Monopropellant subsystem
• Bi propellant subsystem
 Transponder
 A Transponder is the series of interconnected units which
forms a single communications channel between the
receive and transmit antennas in a communication satellite.
 Figure shows part of the frequency and polarization plan for
a C-band Communication satellite.
 Frequency reuse also may be achieved with spot-beam
antennas, and these may be combined with polarization
reuse to provide an effective bandwidth of 2000 MHz from
the actual bandwidth of 500 MHz.
Transponder
Satellite Transponder Channels
 Wideband receiver
 The wideband receiver is shown in Figure. A duplicate
receiver is provided so that if one fails, the other is
automatically switched in.
 The combination is referred to as a redundant receiver,
meaning that although two are provided, only one is in use
at a given time.
Wideband receiver
Input Demultiplexer
 TWTA
 Travelling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) are widely used in
transponders to provide the final output power required to
the transmit antenna.
 In the TWT, an electron beam gun assembly consisting of a
heater, a cathode, and focussing electrodes is used to form
an electron beam.
 A magnetic field is required to confine the beam to travel
along the inside
TWTA
 The Antenna Subsystem
 The Antennas carried aboard a satellite provide the dual
functions of receiving the uplink and transmitting the
downlink signals.
 They range from dipole-type antennas where
omnidirectional characteristics are required to the highly
directional antennas required for telecommunications
purpose and TV relay and broadcast.
 Directional beams are usually produced by means of
reflector type antennas, the paraboloidal reflector being the
most common.