Satellite Structure Design and Mechanical Components Online Cours

Course Contents

The spacecraft structure supports the component subsystems during integration, test, launch, orbital maneuvers, and perhaps reentry, and in some cases the structure must maintain geometry to extraordinary accuracy, whether fixed or deployed in space. Typically, the structure will have a mass of 10 to 15% of a spacecraft's total weight without propellants. The structural design challenge is to achieve structural integrity, rigidity, low mass, robustness, and minimum cost. Aluminum, honeycomb, and composite materials are used as an advantage to accomplish this. Finite element modeling is critical to justify the tradeoffs to achieve an optimum design for the given environmental conditions. The most demanding environment for the structure is generally during launch. The spacecraft and launch vehicle must survive the environments of steady acceleration; acoustic, random, and sinusoidal vibration; mechanical shock; and pressure profiles induced during different phases of the launch. Once the structure is designed and fabricated, rigorous analysis and testing are necessary to verify that it will survive the space environment.