Inflatable structures have gained increasing interest in recent years for their potential as a new and improved alternative to traditional rigid space structures. They require low storage volumes, are cheaper, lightweight and easy to deploy. These advantages result in a reduction of the total mission cost and an increase in the science payload mass. Some applications of inflatable structures in space are: atmospheric re-entry manoeuvres for probes and launcher's stages recovery, de-orbiting manoeuvres for satellites in end of life, aerocapture manoeuvres for orbital insertion and aerobraking for orbital corrections after orbit insertion. The focus of this work is on orbital analysis, the selection and characterization of materials, the development of manufacturing processes, and the development of decelerators conceptual design. The goal of this project is to create a set of experimental results that will create a data set and a series of methodologies to size inflatable structures. By analysing the performance of the structures under different conditions, it is possibly to identify areas for improvement in the design and sizing process. This feedback loop will help to ensure that the inflatable structures developed in the future are optimized for their intended use and meet the necessary performance requirements. Overall, the project aims to contribute to the development of better and more efficient inflatable structures for space applications.
Design and Analysis of Inflatable Structures for Space Applications
2023-06-07
1121369 byte
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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