Technology is disclosed herein for preventing or at least significantly reducing shock to spacecraft such as satellites when releasing a hold-down rod assembly that clamps the spacecraft to, for example, a launch vehicle adaptor. The hold-down rod assembly has tension rods that may be pre-loaded at considerable tension in order to hold down a stack of spacecraft in a launch configuration. In an embodiment, pneumatic actuators are used to slowly release the tension in the tension rods. Therefore, shock to the spacecraft is prevented or at least significantly reduced.
SHOCKLESS SPACECRAFT DISPENSER
2024-04-18
Patent
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
AIAA | 1970
|Numerical design of shockless airfoils
NTRS | 1979
|Experiment of a Shockless Transonic Airfoil
NTIS | 1983
|