Symbiotic structures to significantly enhance space missions

摘要

The Department of Defense is actively pursuing a Responsive Space capability that will dramatically reduce the cost and time associated with getting a payload into space. In order to enable that capability, our space systems must be modular and flexible to cover a wide range of missions, configurations, duty cycles, and orbits. This places requirements on the entire satellite infrastructure: payloads, avionics, electrical harnessing, structure, thermal management system, etc. The Integrated Structural Systems Team at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, has been tasked with developing structural and thermal solutions that will enable a Responsive Space capability. This paper details a "symbiotic" solution where thermal management functionality is embedded within the structure of the satellite. This approach is based on the flight proven and structurally efficient isogrid architecture. In our rendition, the ribs serve as fluidic passages for thermal management, and passively activated valves are used to control flow to the individual components. As the paper will explain, our analysis has shown this design to be structurally efficient and thermally responsive to a wide range of potential satellite missions, payloads, configurations, and orbits.