Thermal Control Design and Verification of Queqiao-2 Satellite Antenna with Active-Passive Methods

Abstract

In response to the communication blind spot issues between the far side of the Moon and Earth faced by the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project，Queqiao-2 satellite operated in a large elliptical frozen mission orbit around the Moon，and provided a stable communication link for lunar far-side exploration missions，utilizing its onboard communication equipment，including an umbrella-shaped deployable parabolic antenna and a two-dimensional steerable parabolic antenna，to provide a stable communication link for lunar far-side exploration missions. To address the challenges of harsh external thermal flow environment and great difficulty in thermal control of cables and moving components，a design scheme with active-passive methods was proposed. By conducting an external heat flux environment analysis for the lunar distant elliptical frozen Sun-synchronous orbit，and combining the antenna’s operating mode and component states，a thermal control design scheme was determined. Thermal Desktop thermal analysis software was used to perform thermal simulation analysis on the antenna，and the results based on calculation guided the components to perform supplemental material-level low-temperature storage tests，and the results indicated that the temperatures of all antenna components met the specified requirements. After the successful launch，the antenna temperatures remained at a good level，particularly during the Chang’e-6 mission，where the relay satellite’s antenna successfully completed the communication task for the first human lunar dorsal sample relay communications mission. The research findings can serve as a reference for thermal design of antennas in deep-space exploration missions.

Keywords

Queqiao-2 satellite / antenna / thermal control design