Session
Technical Session VII: Advanced Technologies II
Abstract
The concept of utilizing small satellites to perform big mission objectives has grown from a distant idea to a demonstrated reality. One of the challenges in using small-satellite platforms for high-value missions is the packaging of long and large surface-area devices such as antennae, solar arrays and sensor positioning booms. One possible enabling technology is the slit-tube, or a deployable “tape-measure” boom which can be flattened and rolled into a coil achieving a high volumetric packaging efficiency. Common design constraints however relate to the need for complex deploying mechanisms to manage the stored energy of the metallic slit-tube coil as it is unreeled, the deployed non-axial stiffness and strength, positional stability and wire-harness management. In this paper, we discuss the design, analysis and fabrication of a High Strain Composite (HSC) slit-tube boom system under development in support of the DARPA Phoenix effort. The utility of HSC materials enables a highly tuned structure resulting in a slit-tube which is stable (i.e., no stored energy) in both the stowed and extended configurations and hence reducing the deployment mechanism complexity and volume. In addition, composites enable the ability incorporate thermally invariant materials and to embed wire harnessing/antenna feeds directly into the boom.
Presentation
Big Deployables in Small Satellites
The concept of utilizing small satellites to perform big mission objectives has grown from a distant idea to a demonstrated reality. One of the challenges in using small-satellite platforms for high-value missions is the packaging of long and large surface-area devices such as antennae, solar arrays and sensor positioning booms. One possible enabling technology is the slit-tube, or a deployable “tape-measure” boom which can be flattened and rolled into a coil achieving a high volumetric packaging efficiency. Common design constraints however relate to the need for complex deploying mechanisms to manage the stored energy of the metallic slit-tube coil as it is unreeled, the deployed non-axial stiffness and strength, positional stability and wire-harness management. In this paper, we discuss the design, analysis and fabrication of a High Strain Composite (HSC) slit-tube boom system under development in support of the DARPA Phoenix effort. The utility of HSC materials enables a highly tuned structure resulting in a slit-tube which is stable (i.e., no stored energy) in both the stowed and extended configurations and hence reducing the deployment mechanism complexity and volume. In addition, composites enable the ability incorporate thermally invariant materials and to embed wire harnessing/antenna feeds directly into the boom.
