Rapid Assembly of Spacecraft Structures for Responsive Space

摘要

In order to achieve a six-day spacecraft architecture, the assembly, integration & testing (Al&T) of the Satellite Bus could be drastically reduced by stocking component-ready modular panels for assembly. The assembly of the structure itself, however, needs to be accelerated from the typical process of securing panels with dozens of mixed-size fasteners and the associated verification, tooling, and documentation that must also take into consideration the need to pass electrical and thermal connections across panels of the bus. A method for rapidly providing a stiff mechanical attachment across panels of a spacecraft bus, while simultaneously providing electrical and thermal continuity, helps to further realize the goals of Responsive Space (RS). A fastening strategy has been developed for enabling rapid assembly of a spacecraft bus structure using Honeybee's patented Quick Insertion Nut (QIN) technology. The QINs are embedded in manifolds which reside at each edge inside the spacecraft bus (the manifold includes panel-to-panel electrical interconnects) and together form a skeletal structure for the spacecraft panels. Initial FEA analyses show that a bus construction based on this concept is capable of meeting the natural frequency requirements for a wide array of launch vehicles and that the QINs themselves are capable of withstanding very high tensile loads with positive margins of safety.