Thermal Design and Verification Method and Orbit Data Analysis of Horyu-2

Abstract

This paper describes the thermal design method of Horyu-2. Horyu-2 was developed by Kyushu Institute of Technology. The project started in 2010 and Horyu-2 was launched by H-2A of JAXA on May 18 2012. At present, Horyu-2 is carrying out many missions and transferring on-orbit data. Horyu-2 orbits 680 km with sun-synchronous polar orbit. Feature of Horyu-2 are lightweight (7.1kg) and large surface (30cm cube) compared with a conventional cube-sat. Thermal design is needed to keep the temperature within the safe range. We conducted thermal analysis in a step-by-step in each phase. This paper reviews the thermal design processes and discusses on-orbit data acquired after launch.