General Electric Company

Joel DeStefano

Peter K Homer

John E Close

Eric Talley

Robert V Parenti

Wensen Chen

To reduce the time required to build spacecraft, and to reduce costs, the spacecraft are members of a set of spacecraft. Each member has the same structural members, such as panels, but different members of the set are elongated by multiples of an increment such as five inches. The structural panels of larger members of the set are elongated in the longitudinal direction, to provide more surface area for mounting payload, and to provide more heat rejection surface. The propellant tank(s), which may be fuel and oxidizer tanks, are spherical in the shortest members of the set, and are increased in length by addition of cylindrical sections, to provide greater volume in larger members to thereby provide longer operating life. Similarly, the solar panels, heat pipes and the like may be elongated.

Low cost, selectable configuration spacecraft

The invention lies in a support transition which is affixed to a spacecraft for supporting the spacecraft on a support ring of a booster or launch vehicle. The transition is in the general form of a ring defining a longitudinal axis parallel to the axis of the spacecraft and the booster. The transition has a circular end adapted to mate with the booster support ring, and a polygonal end adapted to mate with the spacecraft, and makes a smooth transition between ends. The circumference of the transition, at any cross-section transverse to the longitudinal axis, is constant. The transition is advantageously made of a composite material such as fiber-reinforced solidified liquid or carbon-fiber reinforced resin. In a particular embodiment, the polygonal end is a square rectangle, with four straight sides and rounded corners. In a set of spacecraft, the transition remains the same size.

Spacecraft-to-launch-vehicle transition

An apparatus and method for fastening together spacecraft panels includes the use of fastener pairs, one of which has preformed therein an aperture which is larger in diameter than the body of a tolerance takeup piece which is to pass therethrough. A washer which takes up the clearance is adhesively fastened to one of the fastener halves, and allowed to cure while the panels are in their desired position. Thus, a high-tolerance mating pair can be finalized in position at a late state in fabrication, without undesirable drilling or reaming. In a first particular embodiment, a flat washer, having an inside diameter which closely fits the corresponding bolt, is adhesively fastened over the preformed oversize aperture of a fitting. In another embodiment, the washer has an inside diameter which loosely fits the body of the bolt, but also includes a flange or dependent portion which extends through the joint, and which closely fits the inside diameter of the corresponding aperture in the other half of the fastener arrangement. In a yet further embodiment, the washer includes a two-step flange which takes up both axial and lateral tolerances.

Growing community of inventors

Westampton, NJ, United States of America

Joel DeStefano