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:
Feb. 18, 2025
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2022
Applicant:
Maxar Space Llc, Westminster, CO (US);
Inventor:
Varouj Baghdasarian, Cupertino, CA (US);
Assignee:
Maxar Space LLC, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B64G 1/64 (2006.01); F15B 15/14 (2006.01); F15B 15/20 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B64G 1/645 (2013.01); F15B 15/1447 (2013.01); F15B 15/204 (2013.01); B64G 1/643 (2023.08);
Abstract
Technology is disclosed herein for preventing or at least significantly reducing shock to spacecraft such as satellites when releasing a hold-down rod assembly that clamps the spacecraft to, for example, a launch vehicle adaptor. The hold-down rod assembly has tension rods that may be pre-loaded at considerable tension in order to hold down a stack of spacecraft in a launch configuration. In an embodiment, pneumatic actuators are used to slowly release the tension in the tension rods. Therefore, shock to the spacecraft is prevented or at least significantly reduced.