Erno Raumfahrttechnik Gmbh

Daimlerchrysler Aerospace Ag

Airbus Defence and Space Gmbh

Ortwin Golbeck

Joachim Nauck

Roland Jackel

Hans-Juergen Guenther

Manfred Dormer

Bernd Madiger

Robert Axthelm

Sven Kiolbassa

Ingo Purnhagen

Ingo Retat

Manfred Dörmer

Bernd Mädiger

A lightweight pallet especially for holding payloads in a spacecraft has a sandwich construction with a core grid of longitudinal carrier beams and cross-connectors mounted between a top flat sheet metal plate and a bottom flat sheet metal plate and a bottom sheet metal plate. A cross-beam is secured to the front end and to the rear end of the pallet. The cross-beams carry journal pins for mounting the pallets to respective yokes in the cargo bay of a spacecraft. The cover plates are provided with cut-outs forming square or rectangular holes with rounded corners. Hole patterns or threaded holes are provided for the connection of junction plates and payloads to the pallet. The junction plates are secured where the longitudinal beams and the cross-connectors meet. At least one of the two laterally outer longitudinal beams has a recess for the recessed mounting of payload supply unit such as a power supply. The recess is then closed again by a plate capable of taking up shear stress. The longitudinal beams and the cross-connectors are essentially hollow except for cross-ribs connecting the chords of the longitudinal beams and cross-trusses in a box frame of the cross-connectors.

Load carrying lightweight pallet for spacecraft

In a satellite or space station having at least one stabilized service module and a payload module connected thereto in different orientations, an interconnecting and coupling structure includes latchable lift-and-turn mechanisms having some components in the service module and remaining components in the payload module; relative lift is provided such that the components are interconnected to obtain the interconnection of the modules; the modules are independently and releasably interconnected for latching and locking them together while the lift-and-turn mechanism is disconnected.

Satellite station

Growing community of inventors

Hude, Germany

Ortwin Golbeck