ESATAN2SS tool translator: from ESATAN thermal networks to Space State realization

The number of spacecraft which implement feedback control systems to wrap up stringent thermal requirements is continuously growing. The GOCE and HERSCHEL scientific satellites and the GALILEO navigation satellite system are just some examples of this application. For the design and verification of the active thermal control systems (TCS), both thermal and control design software must be run and mathematical models need to be exchanged over these two domains. Both types of software are commercially available as ESATAN-TMS, the ESA thermal analysis reference tool and MATLAB that, along with its toolboxes, stands as the worldwide benchmark for control design and analysis. A tool named ESATAN2SS has been developed as a MATLAB script to provide a fast and easy way to derive State Space form of ESATAN thermal networks by linearization of the heat balance equation. This paper presents the main tool features, input/output options, pros and cons with respect to other approaches like system identification, verification cases run to validate the tool, application to the GALILEO spacecraft and, finally, some considerations on future developments.