Enhancing Satellite End-of-Life Management: Designing Structures for Optimal Demisability and Compliance in Low Earth Orbit

The demise of satellites is still an ongoing topic, that needs further investigation to comply with space de- bris mitigation guidelines and international agreements. Therefore a 6U CubeSat structure was designed to simulate the behaviour of new materials regarding their demisability. With advancements in the additive manufacturing of magnesium alloys the suitability of the rare earth alloy WE43 is investigated as solid material and in the structure of a micro lattice. The properties of these structures were compared to the structure made of aluminum EN-AW 6082. The used methods of simulation were Solidworks simulation for mechanical simulation and DRAMA for the demisability. It has been shown, that the WE43 is a suitable alloy for this use case and that the demise behaviour of WE43 exceeds the demise of the aluminum alloy EN-AW 7075.     «

The demise of satellites is still an ongoing topic, that needs further investigation to comply with space de- bris mitigation guidelines and international agreements. Therefore a 6U CubeSat structure was designed to simulate the behaviour of new materials regarding their demisability. With advancements in the additive manufacturing of magnesium alloys the suitability of the rare earth alloy WE43 is investigated as solid material and in the structure of a micro lattice. The properties of thes...     »