Risks, designs, and research for fire safety in spacecraft

Current fire protection for spacecraft relies mainly on fire prevention through the use of nonflammable materials and strict storage controls of other materials. The Shuttle also has smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, using technology similar to aircraft practices. While experience has shown that the current fire protection is adequate, future improvements in fire safety technology to meet the challenges of long duration space missions, such as the Space Station Freedom, are essential. All spacecraft fire protection systems, however, must deal with the unusual combustion characteristics and operational problems in the low gravity environment. The features of low gravity combustion that affect spacecraft fire safety, and the issues in fire protection for Freedom that must be addressed eventually to provide effective and conservative fire protection systems are discussed

Trick or Heat? Manipulating Critical Temperature-Based Control Systems Using Rectification Attacks

Temperature sensing and control systems are widely used in the closed-loop control of critical processes such as maintaining the thermal stability of patients, or in alarm systems for detecting temperature-related hazards. However, the security of these systems has yet to be completely explored, leaving potential attack surfaces that can be exploited to take control over critical systems. In this paper we investigate the reliability of temperature-based control systems from a security and safety perspective. We show how unexpected consequences and safety risks can be induced by physical-level attacks on analog temperature sensing components. For instance, we demonstrate that an adversary could remotely manipulate the temperature sensor measurements of an infant incubator to cause potential safety issues, without tampering with the victim system or triggering automatic temperature alarms. This attack exploits the unintended rectification effect that can be induced in operational and instrumentation amplifiers to control the sensor output, tricking the internal control loop of the victim system to heat up or cool down. Furthermore, we show how the exploit of this hardware-level vulnerability could affect different classes of analog sensors that share similar signal conditioning processes. Our experimental results indicate that conventional defenses commonly deployed in these systems are not sufficient to mitigate the threat, so we propose a prototype design of a low-cost anomaly detector for critical applications to ensure the integrity of temperature sensor signals.Comment: Accepted at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), 201

The Conference on High Temperature Electronics

The status of and directions for high temperature electronics research and development were evaluated. Major objectives were to (1) identify common user needs; (2) put into perspective the directions for future work; and (3) address the problem of bringing to practical fruition the results of these efforts. More than half of the presentations dealt with materials and devices, rather than circuits and systems. Conference session titles and an example of a paper presented in each session are (1) User requirements: High temperature electronics applications in space explorations; (2) Devices: Passive components for high temperature operation; (3) Circuits and systems: Process characteristics and design methods for a 300 degree QUAD or AMP; and (4) Packaging: Presently available energy supply for high temperature environment

Süsteemi arhitektuur ning komponentide valimine ESTCube-2 toitealamsüsteemi jaoks

This thesis is focused on the architecture of the electrical power system (EPS) and implementations of the various subsystems within the EPS for ESTCube-2 nanosatellite. The main goals are to establish a high level system architecture compatible with the rest of the satellite and investigate solutions for the battery management and protection (BMPS) and the voltage conversion and power distribution systems (VCPDS). In this work, an overview is given of the ESTCube-2 mission and the satellite’s architecture. Based on the satellite architecture, requirements are set for the EPS subsystems to be investigated. For the BMPS, two hot-swap controller based solutions are investigated, prototyped and tested. For the VCPDS, two load switch designs are evaluated, six different voltage converters are characterized and solutions for the power distribution system are proposed. Based on the testing results, recommendations are made for the final implementation

Astrionic system optimization and modular astrionics for NASA missions after 1974. Preliminary definition of astrionic system for space tug Mission Vehicle Payload (MVP)

Results of preliminary studies to define the space tug astrionic system, subsystems, and components to meet requirements for a variety of missions are reported. Emphasis is placed on demonstration of the modular astrionics approach in the design of the space tug astrionic system

A study of an Extended Lunar Orbital Rendezovous /ELOR/ mission. Volume 1 - Technical analysis Final report

Feasibility of Extended Lunar Orbital Rendezvous /ELOR/ for use in lunar application program

Reliability enhanced electrical power system for nanosatellites

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica, Florianópolis, 2023.A baixa confiabilidade dos subsistemas elétricos de potência (EPS) é um dos principais fatores responsáveis pelo alto número de falhas em missões de nanossatélites. Embora diversas técnicas de melhoria de confiabilidade tenham sido propostas no passado, a maior parte destes estudos não considera sua aplicabilidade, ignorando o custo, a energia e a área da placa requerida para que estas técnicas sejam implementadas. Em vista disto, o presente trabalho propõe uma arquitetura de EPS que incorpora quatro técnicas de melhoria de confiabilidade em um projeto de baixo custo e tamanho reduzido, a saber: seleção metódica de componentes de prateleira, projeto sem processador, redundância passiva parcial, e monitoramento e controle de cargas. Cada uma destas técnicas foi cuidadosamente selecionada para aprimorar a confiabilidade do EPS sem que outras áreas do projeto fossem comprometidas. Para melhor assegurar a viabilidade da arquitetura, três estratégias de projeto para redução de consumo energia foram também colocadas em prática. A mais importante delas é o uso de conversores de carga customizados, de alta eficiência e baseados em transistores de nitreto de gálio (GaN). Além disto, a arquitetura utiliza majoritariamente componentes de baixo consumo de energia e disponibiliza suporte para modos de operação de baixa dissipação, o que pode reduzir significativamente o desperdício de energia durante períodos de eclipse ou de inatividade. Toda a proposta foi fundamentada por diagramas de blocos, análises teóricas, equações de projeto e pelo esquema elétrico da placa de circuito impresso (PCB). A eficiência dos conversores de ponto de carga, o mecanismo de ativação das redundâncias passivas e todas as outras principais funcionalidades do EPS foram verificadas e validadas através de simulações de circuito SPICE. Ademais, um sistema de três métricas para avaliar e comparar a confiabilidade de arquiteturas de EPS também foi proposto. Baseado neste modelo de avaliação, foi possível comparar a arquitetura aqui apresentada, com aquela utilizada na versão anterior da mesma plataforma e com a NanoPower P31U, que é projetada pela GomSpace. Resultados comparativos confirmaram a efetividade das técnicas que foram incorporadas ao EPS, indicando que ele apresenta a arquitetura mais confiável dentre as três que foram consideradas para esta análise.Abstract: The low reliability of the Electrical Power Systems (EPS) is one of the major factors responsible for the high number of nanosatellite mission failures. Although several reliability-enhancing techniques have been proposed in the past, most studies do not take into account their applicability, overlooking the cost, power, and board area required for them to be implemented. In light of this, the present work proposes an EPS architecture that incorporates four reliability-enhancing techniques into a low-cost, small-footprint design. Namely, methodical COTS selection, processor-less design, partial standby redundancy, and load monitoring and control. Each technique was thoughtfully chosen to enhance the EPS reliability without compromising other design areas. To further ensure the viability of the architecture, three power reduction design strategies were also put in place. The most important of which was the use of customized high-efficiency GaN-based point-of-load (PoL) converters. In addition, the architecture features mostly low-power components and provides support for low-power modes of operation, which can greatly reduce the power wasted during an eclipse or an idle period. The entire proposal was backed up by block diagrams, theoretical analysis, design equations, and a printed circuit board (PCB) schematic design. The efficiency of the PoL converters, the standby redundancy activation mechanism, and all other main EPS functionalities, were verified and validated through SPICE circuit simulations. Furthermore, this work also proposes a three-metric system for evaluating and comparing the reliability of different EPS architectures. Based on this evaluation method, it was possible to compare the EPS architecture presented herein with its previous version and with the NanoPower P31U, which is designed by GomSpace. Comparison results confirmed the effectiveness of the techniques that were incorporated into this EPS, indicating that it exhibits the highest architecture reliability among the three candidates that were considered for this analysis