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Weight reduction of a satellite structure, which is one of the heaviest parts of a cube satellite, is discussed in this paper. The structural strength should be considered when attempting to reduce the structure weight. This paper presents the method for reducing the weight of Cube satellite structure, based on ANSYS analysis and engineer’s intuition for optimal design. In this study, we proposed a structural design concept to reduces cost and improves mechanical durability by using a lightweight technique. The effectiveness of the design has been verified through structural analysis and vibration tests. Numerical simulation results showed that the Margin of Safety of the 12U structure was over 1.4 under the worst-case conditions. Our work allows 34% of lightweight by satisfying the requirement.

Compared to other birds, owls fly achieving remarkably low noise even that human cannot hear. It is well known that the silent flight owes to both huge size of owl’s wing and microscopic morphologies of feathers, which make up wings, composed of leading edge serration, trailing edge fringes, and velvet surface. To validate the noise reduction effect by applying owl’s characteristics to an airfoil model NACA0018. Three models: (1) without and (2) with leading edge serrations and trailing edge fringes and (3) with serrations and feathers were prepared for comparison. Using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and a blow-down low speed wind-tunnel, flow characteristics of boundary layer and wake are measured with the three different models at two angle of attacks. It is found that the hairy wing with serration prevents flow separation followed by noise reduction.