Development of an all-composite spacecraft bus for small satellite programs
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Composite Optics Inc., San Diego, CA (United States)
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in partnership with Composite Optics Incorporated (COI) is advancing the development of low-cost, lightweight, composite technology for use in small satellites. The use of advanced composites in space applications is well developed but the application of an all-composite satellite bus has never been achieved. This paper investigates the application of composite technology to the design and fabrication of an all-composite spacecraft bus for small satellites. The satellite program Fast On-Orbit Recording of Transient Events (FORTE) is the second in a series of satellites to be launched into orbit for the US Department of Energy (DOE). The FORTE program objective is to record atmospheric bursts of electromagnetic radiation. This paper will discuss the issues of design, analysis, testing, and fabrication required to deliver the spacecraft and its associated components within a two-year period. The spacecraft will be launched into low earth orbit in late 1995 from a Pegasus-XL launch vehicle. Due to the extremely tight time constraints, a novel low-cost solution using graphite fiber reinforced plastics composites was required to achieve the performance goals of the mission. The details of material selection, characterization of design allowables, and the approach used in determining the structural geometry that will provide the optimum performance for this mission are presented.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10182013
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-94-2897; CONF-9408132-2; ON: DE94018317
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: AIAA small satellite conference,Logan, UT (United States),29 Aug - 1 Sep 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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