Space System Design

Robert F. Stengel

Princeton University
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

This course examines the design of spacecraft and launch vehicles, including the impacts of the atmosphere and the space environment on requirements and configurations. The principles and design aspects of the structure, propulsion, power, thermal, communication, and control subsystems are studied.

Syllabus

• Week 1
  • Overview and Preliminaries
  • Orbital Mechanics
• Week 2
  • Planetary Defense
  • Spacecraft Guidance
• Week 3
  • Spacecraft Environment
  • Chemical/Nuclear Propulsion Systems
• Week 4
  • Electric Propulsion Systems
  • Launch Vehicles
• Week 5
  • Spacecraft Structures
  • Spacecraft Configurations
• Week 6
  • Spacecraft Dynamics
  • Spacecraft Control
• Week 7
  • Sensors & Actuators
  • Electrical Power Systems
• Week 8
  • Thermal Control
  • Communications
• Week 9
  • Telemetry, Command, Data Handling, & Processing
  • Ground Segment
• Week 10
  • Spacecraft Mechanisms
  • Electromagnetic Compatibility
• Week 11
  • Space Robotics
  • Human Spaceflight
• Week 12
  • System Engineering & Integration
  • Product Assurance

  ---

  Lecture Slides (pdf)

  • Lecture 1: Introduction
  • Lecture 2: Orbital Mechanics
  • Lecture 3: Planetary Defense
  • Lecture 4: Spacecraft Guidance
  • Lecture 5: Spacecraft Environment
  • Lecture 6: Chemical & Nuclear Propulsion
  • Lecture 7: Electric Propulsion, Professor Edgar Choueiri
  • Lecture 8: Launch Vehicles
  • Lecture 9: Spacecraft Structures
  • Lecture 10: Spacecraft Configurations
  • Lecture 11: Spacecraft Dynamics
  • Lecture 12: Spacecraft Control
  • Lecture 13: Spacecraft Sensors and Actuators
  • Lecture 14: Electrical Power Systems
  • Lecture 15: Thermal Control
  • Lecture 16: Telecommunications
  • Lecture 17: Telemetry, Command Data Handling & Processing
  • Lecture 18: Ground Segment
  • Lecture 19: Spacecraft Mechanisms
  • Lecture 20: Electromagnetic Compatibility
  • Lecture 21: Space Robotics
  • Lecture 22: Human Spaceflight
  • Lecture 23: Systems Engineering
  • Lecture 24: Product Assurance
  

  

  Term Paper Topics

  • Plasma-Based Technique for Sample Ablation and Ionization on a Mars Rover
  • Cloud Cluster of Pico-Satellites
  • Space-Based Laser for Space Debris Cleanup
  • Halo-Orbit Satellite for Relay Communication with the Far Side
  • Lunar GPS and Communications Network
  • Lunar Rover for Implantation of Seismic Stations
  • Lunar Communication and Navigation System Using Lunar Orbiters and L2 Halo Orbit Relay
  • Sample Return from Mars
  • SPARKSat: A Satellite for K-12 Education
  • Asteroid Deflection by a Gravity Tractor
  • Satellite to Detect Aten Asteroids
  • Internet-Based Satellite Communication System
  • Lunar Polar Lander with Sample Return
  • Urban Heat-Island-Monitoring Satellite
  • Near-Earth Object Detection
  • Heat Engine as Spacecraft Power Generator
  • Nano-Satellite to Observe Orbiting Spacecraft
  • Launch Vehicle to Deliver a Rover to the Moon
  • Project 2020 UA: A System to Defend Earth from Impact by a Long-Period Asteroid
    • Deep-Space Interception and Deflection
    • Near-Space Interception and Deflection

  Co-Planar, Point-Mass Lunar Trajectories, a MATLAB program

  Insight regarding lunar trajectories can be gained from co-planar, point-mass trajectories. A MATLAB script (CoPlanarTraj.m) and two functions (RoundEarth.m and LunarTrajDynamics.m) describe simplified two- and three-body problems. Trajectories of a spacecraft with negligible mass compared to the Earth and Moon are generated using analytical and numeric equations. For this introductory model, the position of Earth is fixed, and the Moon is in a circular orbit about the Earth.

  For the example, the spacecraft departs from a circular orbit about Earth with a semi-major axis of 3748 km and an impulsive horizontal velocity increment of 3.087 km/s. The Moon's true anomaly increment is -40 deg from the intercept point that would occur in the absence of the Moon's gravitational field. In addition to numerical values and plots of state variables, animations of the spacecraft and Moon trajectories reveal the significance of lunar gravity's "sphere of influence." Effects of varying the true anomaly increment (i.e., the phasing of Moon position and spacecraft launch time) and launch velocity increment are of particular interest.

  The script has the following chapters and sections:

  1. Elements of Circular Parking Orbit about Earth
  2. Elements of Transfer Orbit from Parking Orbit to Moon Radius
  3. Elements of Moon Circular Orbit About Fixed Earth
  4. Elements of Circular Parking Orbit about Earth
  5. Lunar Transfer Trajectory, without Lunar Gravity
  ---5.1 Numerical Solution (Command Window)
  ---5.2 Animation, Inertial Frame
  6. Lunar Transfer Trajectory, with Lunar Gravity
  ---6.1 Numerical Solution (Command Window)
  ---6.2 Animation, Inertial Frame
  ---6.3 Animation, Rotating Frame
  

  Download and run CoPlanarTraj in a MATLAB, SciLab, or GNU Octave environment:

  CoPlanarTraj.m

  RoundEarth.m

  LunarTrajDynamics.m

  

  SELECTED REFERENCES

  • Fortescue, P., Swinerd, G., and Stark, J., Spacecraft Systems Engineering, J. Wiley & Sons, 2011.
  • Pisacane, V. L., Fundamentals of Space Systems, Oxford University Press, 2005.
  • Kleiman, L., ed., Project Icarus Systems Engineering, MIT Press, 1979.
  • Belton, M., Morgan, T., Samarasinha, N., Yeomans, D., Mitigation of Hazardous Comets and Asteroids, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  • Sarafin, T., Spacecraft Structures and Mechanisms, Space Technology Library, 1995.
  • Cruise, A., et al, Principles of Space Instrument Design, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  • Wertz, J., Everett, D., and Puschell, J., Space Mission Analysis and Design, Microcosm Press/Springer, 2011.
  • Sellers, J., Understanding Space: An Introduction to Astronautics, McGraw-Hill, 2007.
  • Cornellisse, J. W., Schoyer, H. F. R., and Wakker, K. F., Rocket Propulsion and Spaceflight Dynamics, Pitman, 1979.
  • Kaplan, M. H., Modern Spacecraft Dynamics & Control, J. Wiley & Sons, 1976.
  • Wiesel, W., Spaceflight Dynamics,McGraw-Hill, 1997.
  • Koelle, H. H., Handbook of Astronautical Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 1961.
  • Seifert, H. S., Space Technology, J. Wiley & Sons, 1959.
  • Stengel, R. F., Flight Dynamics, Princeton University Press, 2004.
  • Stengel, R. F., Optimal Control and Estimation, Dover, 1994.
  

  

  Robert F. Stengel is Professor Emeritus and former Associate Dean of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University. He is the author of Optimal Control and Estimation (Dover, 1994) and Flight Dynamics ([Princeton University Press, 1st edition (2004), 2nd edition (2022)]. He was principal designer of the Apollo Lunar Module manual attitude control logic.

  http://www.stengel.mycpanel.princeton.edu/MAE342.html
  last updated March 10, 2024. stengel at princeton.edu
  Copyright 2024 by Robert F. Stengel. All rights reserved.