Damage Assessment of a NASA Spacecraft Instrument

摘要

After the recent launch of a NASA spacecraft, it was determined that functional damage was experienced by one of the instrument packages onboard the spacecraft. From the review of acceleration flight data recorded at the spacecraft interface, it was determined that there was a brief period during the launch sequence in which the spacecraft random vibration test spectrum was exceeded in the axial direction. Extensive analyses were performed to determine if the axial random vibration flight environment could have caused the instrument functional damage. It was concluded that if the spacecraft was tested to the proper random vibration test specifications, the resulting structural loads and cumulative structural fatigue exposure to the spacecraft instrument during testing was sufficient to cover those expected from the flight environment. This paper discusses the analyses performed to develop these conclusions.