The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 15, 2020
Filed:
Nov. 30, 2017
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Christopher M. Cosner, Manhattan Beach, CA (US);
Michael S. Baldwin, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
An exemplary satellite includes a pair of payloads coupled to one another by a flexible boom, where the flexible boom is configured to enable easy manual engagement of the pair of payloads with an associated attachment hub, and also to provide a passive release force for deploying at least one of the payloads in a direction outwardly from the attachment hub. Potential energy for enabling the passive release is provided as stored strain energy in the flexible boom when flexed for attachment of the payloads to the attachment hub. The strain energy is released upon release of at least one of the payloads from the attachment hub, which release may be by way of a non-complex, non-exotic attachment mechanism. Additional payloads may be connected in series to the pair of payloads, with a flexible boom connecting adjacent payloads. The additional payloads may be released from the attachment hub via a non-complex or complex attachment mechanism.