A spacecraft includes payload equipment and bus equipment, each of the payload equipment and the bus equipment being coupled with a secondary structure arrangement. The spacecraft is configured to structurally interface with a launch vehicle upper stage only by way of an exoskeletal launch support structure (ELSS) that provides a first load path between a launch vehicle upper stage and the secondary structure arrangement. The spacecraft is configured to deploy from the launch vehicle upper stage by separating from the ELSS. In some implementations, the first load path is the only load path between the spacecraft and the launch vehicle upper stage, and substantially all of the ELSS remains with the launch vehicle upper stage. Because the secondary structure may be substantially less massy then the ELSS, subsequent orbit raising maneuvers may then be executed with a spacecraft having a reduced dry mass.
Exoskeletal launch support structure
2020-04-28
Patent
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
IPC: | B64G Raumfahrt , COSMONAUTICS |
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