HYDRAULIC ACTUATOR FOR THE LISA PATHFINDER CAGING MECHANISM: TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES

摘要

LISA Pathfinder is an ESA mission that willrndemonstrate the key technologies to be used in thernfuture LISA mission. One of the most technologicallyrnchallenging device of the LISA Technology Package tornbe flown on LISA Pathfinder is the so called CagingrnMechanism (CM). This mechanism has mainly 2rnfunctions:rn1) to cage a Test Mass (TM) during the launch phasern(applying a very high pre-load without damaging thernTM surface);rn2) to grab, position, centre and release the TM when thernorbit position has been reached and whenever needed.rnThe first function is performed by a hydraulic actuatorrnnamed Caging Mechanism SubSystem (CMSS).rnIn this paper the technological challenges and thernsolutions implemented to realize the CMSS, will bernshown.