Fostering Open Knowledge Sharing for CubeSat Design through the SPACE4YOU project

Concurrent Engineering is a systematic approach to integrated product development aiming to reduce time to mission design and development costs, while increasing the systems development quality, by carrying out tasks in parallel with a quasi near-real-time teamwork. To effectively implement a design approach, it is important to complement it with suitable tools and standardized procedures that can improve the design process and facilitate team cooperation. This highlights the importance of knowledge sharing in concurrent engineering for the space sector. In this framework, the SPACE4YOU (SPace Activities and CompEtences for industrY bOost in bUsiness) project establishes a central knowledge portal, named Space4You knowledge portal, which serves as an open-source web repository for collective resources, including techniques, methodologies, and tools for the design, simulation, development, and testing of new space systems. The project promotes collaboration, open knowledge exchange, and technology transfer between academia and large companies, small-medium enterprises, accelerators, and incubators in the aerospace ecosystem, ensuring the portal is open-access for all. A key research contribution to the project focuses on the development of high-level knowledge management strategies for CubeSat preliminary design, utilizing digital tools to enhance micro and nanosatellite mission and service design. The project encourages the creation of open-source materials and tools tailored for CubeSat design, such as a comprehensive CubeSat Technologies Database that provides immediate access to specifications and performance data of commercially available components. This not only supports component selection but also ensures designs are grounded in current technological realities, facilitating efficient design processes. The database covers several technologies such as CubeSat deployers, Structures, Command and Data Handling (C&DH) systems, Electrical Power Systems (EPS), Attitude Determination and Control Systems (ADCS), Communication Systems (ComSys), Propulsion Systems, Navigation Systems, Optical payloads, Docking Systems, Mechanisms, and Platforms. Their properties and relationships with other technologies are highlighted in the database, presenting an innovative approach to knowledge management in concurrent space engineering. In addition to the CubeSat Technologies Database, open-source tools to facilitate the concurrent design of CubeSats are the standardized calculation sheets, consisting of Excel spreadsheets dedicated to the main disciplines of a preliminary design phase. These calculation sheets allow us to perform the sizing and evaluate the budgets of C&DH systems, ADCS, ComSys, EPS, propulsion systems, and thermal protection systems as well as to obtain a preliminary cost estimation. Each discipline calculation sheet is organized into several sheets, where the inputs, the calculations, and the outputs of that discipline are highlighted. A central node, which consists of a central repository spreadsheet, collects inputs and outputs of all disciplines, enabling an effective knowledge management method in the concurrent design of CubeSats. The paper emphasizes the creation of a central knowledge repository both at a lower level in the concurrent design of CubeSats, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, and in high-level knowledge management, filling the gap between research and industry. Finally, the paper underlines the importance of fostering public knowledge transfer practices within the space sector, demonstrating the potential of open-source resources to promote best practices and encourage their use in the space system design. This work is part of NODES - Nord-Ovest Digitale E Sostenibile project, financed by the MUR – Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca (PNRR, D.D. n.1054 of 23/06/2022), involving the North-Western Italian regions of Piemonte, Valle d'Aosta and the bordering provinces of Lombardia. NODES aims to support and create scientific and industrial research chains in different areas, including Industry 4.0 For Sustainable Mobility and Aerospace coordinated by the Politecnico di Torino