During the past three years the team of The Aerospace Corporation, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, NASA Glenn Research Center, and ILC Dover LP have been developing a multifunctional inflatable structure for the PowerSphere concept under contract with NASA (NAS3-01115). The PowerSphere attitude insensitive solar power-generating microsatellite, which could be used for many different space and Earth science purposes, is ready for further refinement and flight demonstration. The development of micro- and nanosatellites requires the energy collection system, namely the solar array, to be of lightweight and small size. The limited surface area of these satellites precludes the possibility of body mounting the solar array system for required power generation. The use of large traditional solar arrays requires the support of large satellite volumes and weight and also requires a pointing apparatus. The current PowerSphere concept (geodetic sphere), which was envisioned in the late 1990 s by Mr. Simburger of The Aerospace Corporation, has been systematically developed in the past several years.1-7 The PowerSphere system is a low mass and low volume system suited for micro and nanosatellites. It is a lightweight solar array that is spherical in shape and does not require a pointing apparatus. The recently completed project culminated during the third year with the manufacturing of the PowerSphere Engineering Development Unit (EDU). One hemisphere of the EDU system was tested for packing and deployment and was subsequently rigidized. The other hemisphere was packed and stored for future testing in an uncured state. Both cured and uncured hemisphere components were delivered to NASA Glenn Research Center for thermal cycle testing and long-term storage respectively. This paper will discuss the design, thermal cycle testing of the PowerSphere EDU.


    Zugriff

    Zugriff über TIB

    Verfügbarkeit in meiner Bibliothek prüfen


    Exportieren, teilen und zitieren



    Titel :

    Thermal Cycle Testing of the Powersphere Engineering Development Unit


    Beteiligte:


    Erscheinungsdatum :

    01.02.2007


    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Konferenz)


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch




    Fabrication and Testing of a PowerSphere Engineering Development Unit

    Simburger, Edward / Giants, Thomas / Matsumoto, James et al. | AIAA | 2005


    AIAA-2004-1570 Engineering Development Model Testing of the PowerSphere

    Simburger, E. / Matsumoto, J. / Giants, T. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2004




    Thin Film Technology Development for the PowerSphere

    E. J. Simburger / J. H. Matsumoto / T. W. Giants et al. | NTIS | 2005