General Electric Company

Grumman Aerospace Corporation

Peter K Homer

John E Close

Eric Talley

Robert V Parenti

Joel DeStefano

Wensen Chen

Paul V Barcomb

Robert J Mackey

Vasuki Subarrao

Lisa M Grob

Equipment support and thermal radiation panels for a spacecraft include a transverse header heat pipe and a set of a plurality of 'spreader' heat pipes each including an elongated longitudinal portion and an 'L' portion lying in thermal contact with the header heat pipe. The elongated longitudinal portions of the spreader heat pipes are spaced apart and mutually parallel. A further set of spreader heat pipes, similar to the first set, is provided. At least part of the elongated longitudinal portion of each further heat pipe is physically parallel, and in thermal contact, with a heat pipe of the first set, and the 'L' portions of the further heat pipes are in thermal contact with a second header heat pipe. A make-break thermal joint juxtaposes a header heat pipe of each of two panels lying in different planes.

Spacecraft thermal panels & make-break thermal joints

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.

Spacecraft assembly with misalignment tolerant fasteners

Cylindrical battery cell vessels are coupled together in plural sets by pairs of half-shell sleeves. The sleeves conduct heat preferentially in an axial direction. Each sleeve set is mounted onto a heat rejection plate for direct radiation to space. Each satellite of a set of spacecraft has a North and/or South-facing region for mounting the heat rejection plates of the requisite number of cells. Each plate may be fitted with an optical solar reflector (OSR) for reflecting insolation, and for radiating heat energy.

Battery thermal control arrangement

First and second sandwich panels each have first and second face sheets, held in a mutually parallel, spaced-apart relationship by a low-density core. The panels are joined along an edge, which may be curved. The joinder is made by a plurality of thin, flat 'L'-shaped joining pieces, each having first and second legs, which may be at skew angles if the panels are joined at skew angles. The first leg of the first joining piece is affixed, as by adhesive, to the first face sheet of the first panel and to the exposed core of the second panel, and the second leg of the first joining piece is affixed to the second face sheet of the second panel. The second joining piece, adjacent the first, has its first leg affixed to the first face sheet of the second panel and to the exposed core of the first panel, and its second leg affixed to the second face sheet of the first panel. Other additional fasteners may alternate along the length of the edge to be joined. In a particular embodiment, the first legs of the joining pieces are coupled in common.

Low stress panel joints

Each antenna plane of a multi-layer radar membrane is secured at its edges to a hinge bar assembly. The purpose of the hinge bar assembly is to expand the layers, normally collapsed during a stowed condition, to parallel spaced layers when deployed. Each hinge assembly includes double bars pivotally mounted to a base section, the latter being snap-fastened to a ground plane. The ends of the hinge bars are snap-fastened to corresponding antenna plane strips and the central portion of each hinge bar has a spring extending outwardly therefrom for securement to a base abutment. Thus, when the membranes are freed from external restraint in preparation of deployment, the springs pivot the hinge bars to a generally perpendicular relationship with respect to the ground plane and antenna planes thus separating oppositely positioned antenna planes to the desired tensioned and parallel spaced relationship with respect to the ground plane.

Hinge pin assembly for window shade radar membrane

A lens assembly for a window shade radar includes two adjacent membranes rolled onto separate rollers. Expandable side masts are pivotally secured to the rollers and the collapsible main beams by slip joints. The main beams enclose wire busses which are directly connected to the membrane modular elements without interposed rotary connections.

Arrangement for window shade-deployed radar

A transmit/receive module and RF elements are constructed as a sub-assembly. Notches are formed along the edges of two parallel spaced antenna planes. These notches engage mating notches formed in the element of the sub-assembly thereby retaining the sub-assembly by 'snap-in' action. Conversely, the sub-assembly may be quickly disassembled by unsnapping the engagement of the sub-assembly and antenna plane.

Snap-in antenna element for window shade-type radar

A line of paired, oppositely extending bracket members is snapped together on the ground plane of a three-layer radar membrane. Antenna plane strips are horizontally located above and below the ground plane. Sufficient space occurs between confronting edges of antenna plane strips to allow extension of the brackets therebetween when the membrane is rolled up. Radially adjacent bracket members interlock to prevent axial displacement of the rolled ground plane.

Growing community of inventors

Langhorne, PA, United States of America

Peter K Homer