This document will provide a high level overview of the different systems and components designed and/or created by the Mechanical sub-team. This page will also discuss the design philosophy and goals taken into consideration providing an explanation of the engineering decisions that lead to the development process.
The primary objective of the Mechanical team are to develop the overall satellite structure in addition to any internal architecture that is required (mounting brackets, custom parts, shelving... etc). The Mechanical team is also responsible for designing, prototyping, testing and assembling the deployment switch mechanism, the thermal sensor implementation, and the thermal management systems on the CubeSAT.
When designing the overall structure of the chassis, the Mechanical team generated a set list of criteria to adhere to. These criteria can be broken up into 5 distinct categories: competition, spatial, material, subsystem, and layout. Further information on the specific criteria generated can be found in the following document: Requirements Document.
The main category taken into consideration was the competition requirements. These requirements consisted of a set of dimensional and structural criteria that the CubeSAT must be able to adhere to, demonstrated through a series of tests listed by the CSDC.
The overall chassis dimensions are 340.5mm x 100mm x 100mm. These fit within the competition dimensional requirements of 340.5±0.3mm x 100±0.1mm x 100±0.1mm. Large access panels were cut into the side panels in order to allow access to the CubeSAT internals. Truss-like cutouts (resembling quadrilaterals and triangles) were created in order to promote structural integrity that is needed in order to withstand the 12g’s of force listed in the competitional requirements, while simultaneously reducing the overall mass of the CubeSAT to meet the mass requirements of <4kg. Additional holes were created to mount external systems on the CubeSAT, including
Distinct corner rails were designed on two of the side panel segments, which ends provide a surface to interact with the deployment mechanism. Three of the four corner rails house the deployment switch and its mechanism, of which two of the deployment mechanisms house the deployment springs.