Space

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	Design & Analysis of a Star Sensor Bracket Design and analysis of a ceramic (HB-Cesic®) star sensor bracket for Meteosat Third Generation Satellite Design optimization for mass minimization and minimization of thermo-elastic deformations Performance of all FE analyses and verifications for the qualification of the sensor bracket: Quasistatic analyses Modal analyses Sinus- and random vibration analyses Thermale analyses Thermo-elastic analyses Planning and performance of all qualifikationstests
	Vibration Tests for Star Sensor Bracket Planning, performance and evaluation of vibration tests for ceramic (HB-Cesic®) star sensor bracket for Meteosat Third Generation Satellite Performance of qualification as well as acceptance testing for flight models Sine and random vibration tests Experimental approximation of interface loads (forces/moments) based on a reduced mass matrix (Guyan reduction of FE model to the acceleration sensor positions) and the measured accelerations for sine as well as random vibration tests (mass operator method, see ECSS-E-HB-32-26A) Computation and verification of notching profiles based on the approximated interface loads (see above) for sine and random vibration tests Corellation of test results with FE analyis results
	Measurement of the CTE of CFRP struts with integral and Invar end fitting Design and assembly of a test setup for the measurement of thermal elongation of CFRP struts for extreme thermoelastic stability requirements Screwed and clevis end fittings made of CFRP and Invar (reference) have been investigated The test rig consists of: Clearceram sensor and specimen support capacitive sensors for cryogenic environment TV chamber In total 12 struts have been measured in the temperature range of -180°C to +70°C The low CTE of the integral CFRP struts has been demonstrated
	FEM analyses of the waveguides for MetOp-SG (*Met*eorological Operational Satellite - Second Generation) Structural integrity assessment of the waveguide system on MetOp-SG Satellite via FEM (Nastran) Setup of a beam model for global deformations and global modal analyses Calculation of the mounting bracket’s and connection’s stiffness by means of shell and solid models as input for the global model Setup of a detailed shell model with shell-solid coupling of a typical waveguide section which will be subjected to vibration testing Test prediction for vibration test model: modal, sine, random and quasi-static loads (QSL)
	Functional and life tests of the ExoMars Crushing Station at Mars environmental conditions In the scope of the ExoMars 2020 Mission soil samples are drilled, crushed and analyzed. KRP performed life tests at Mars atmosphere (7mbar nitrogen). Various types of drill samples have been crushed at temperatures down to -60°C. Cameras have been installed into the thermal-vacuum chamber to monitor the sample handling and crushing process.
	Thermal-vacuum tests of BepiColombo MPO and MTM solar array coupons Thermal-vacuum qualification testing with electrical measurements of several coupons of the BepiColombo solar array Outgassing measurement with molecular witness plates at the chambers cold trap Installation and test performance under cleanroom conditions Temperture extremes: -170°C and +220°C Vacuum: 1e-6mbar
	Shock and Vibration Analysis and Measurements on ExoMars Components The shock produced by activation of a Frangi-Bolt is measured and the SRS is directly analyzed on site (OHB premises). The resulting shock loads for neighboring components have been derived by similarity-heritage-extrapolation, following the methods proposed by ESA SRS ratio method Zoning procedure Test prediction based on modal properties derived by FEA KRP has further proposed shock attenuation solutions for this project For a different ExoMars component, vibration measurements were performed (at SGS). Two kinds of tests were done: Resonance search Identification of optimum operational frequency with respect to function (high vibration at a selected position) and shock loads (low SRS at the interface)
	Tensile Test for Notched HB-Cesic Specimens Determination of the effect of v-notches on the strength of HB-Cesic Derivation of characteristic notch factors for the design of thermo-stable srtructures with HB-Cesic
	Determination of Material Properties of Additive Layer Manufacturing Aluminium and Titanium Alloy Specimens at Low Temperatures additive layer manufacturing (ALM) as e.g. laser melting offer an outstanding design freedom and thus a huge potential for optimised lightweight structures the small lot sizes typical for space applications enable the application of this manufacturing method also with respect to economical aspects the achieved material properties depend on various process parameters as well as orientation of the respective part during manufacturing for evaluating the material properties, the following test are performed: tensile tests compression tests shear tests pin bearing tests the tests are performed for selected temperatures from room temperatures (RT) down to 4K (liquid Helium, LHe)
	Development of a Reference Platform for High Accuracy Thermal Deformation Measurements the experimental verification of thermo-elastic stable structures requires a reference platform, which features a significantly higher thermo-elastic stability than the object to be measured to reduce potential measurement errors due to the inherent thermal deformation of the measurement platform itself as much as possible, it is required to use ULE (ultra-low expansion) materials as Clearceram or Zerodur capacitive sensors with very low thermal drift tests of the developed measurement platform show a thermal stability with respect to the rotations of selected reference surfaces of <0,1 µrad/K
	Thermal Vacuum and Thermal Balance Testing for a Highly Stable Star-Sensor-Bracket thermal vacuum cycling as well as thermal balance were performed for a ceramic (HB-Cesic®) support structure for star sensors a major element for the test set-up for the thermal balance test was to establish radiative boundary conditions which match the operational conditions as close as possible with respect the applied multi-layer insulation (MLI) the test has been accompanied by respective thermal FEM simulations
	Thermal-Vacuum and Vibration Testing of the EnMAP Field Splitters Under High Cleanliness Requirements optical components like the micro-scale double-slit of the EnMAP Field Splitter, which resides in the focus of the telescope, require the highest level of particulate and molecular cleanliness in order to ensure these cleanliness requirements during testing, a special vacuum-tight testbox has been developed
	Functional Testing of a Hold-Down-Mechanism under Thermal-Vacuum Conditions the investigated Hold-Down-Mechanism features several springs that serves as actuation elements the spring forces have to be sufficiently high to overcome the friction forces during release for verification, the respective spring is removed and the respective actuation force of this spring is substituted by an external load introduction; the external force is measured the required external force, which is necessary for the actuation, is compared with the force provided by this spring the ratio between the required force and the available spring force provides a safety factor for the actuation by the respective spring this safety factor has been determined for all springs with a special designed test set-up at -95°C in a thermal vacuum chamber
	Shock Testing of a Microstructured Ceramic Optical Component the survival of shock loads induced by stage separation or release mechanisms is mainly verified by experiments especially critical for shock loads are components from brittle materials for this test, a micro-structured silicon part has been investigated, which is the critical element of an optical component to reproduce the correct dynamic boundary conditions, the part of the component, which was not included in the test, has been substituted by a stiffness dummy (picture top, left), which has been developed by KRP-M the shock tests have been performed on a mechanical impact device (KRP-M shock bench) during testing, the correct application of the specified shock response spectrum (SRS) has been verified furthermore, losses at the mechanical connections have been evaluated
	Multi-Axis Force- and Moment-Load Test of a Hold Down Mechanism During Launch Phase hold down mechanism are used for the fixation of movable subsystems of a satellite during the launch phase the inertia forces caused by the launch are supported by the mechanism instead of the potentially sensitive subsystem in the investigated application, the mechanism has to cope with seven different combinations of axial and lateral forces and moments in addition to the mechanical stability, also the functionality of load transferring frictional connections was investigated for the realisation of the seven load combinations in a standard tensile testing machine, a complex load introduction element has been designed using appropriately positioned and oriented pulleys, the required rope forces were applied to the load introduction element to achieve the specified load combination the correct application of the force and moment combinations has been verified by a 6-axis load cell
	Thermo-Elastic Deformation Measurement of a Autoclave Set-Up for the Manufacturing of Solar Generator Panels for certain applications, high shape accuracy is required for composite- and sandwich parts the shape accuracy is mainly determined by the manufacturing process and the lay-up of the laminate for measuring and minimisation of manufacturing induced deformations of the Bepi Colombo solar generator, a special measurement tool has been developed, manufactured and operated with this tool, the thermo-elastic deformations of the autoclave set-up were measured due to the use of materials with low thermal coefficient of expansion and the application of special sensors, the tool features an excellent thermo-elastic stability and thus a high measurement accuracy
	Thermo-Elastic Deformation Measurement of Autoclave Structure for Manufacturing of Solar Panels space applications often require high shape accuracy for composite and sandwich parts the shape accuracy is significantly determined by the manufacturing process for the measurement and minimization of manufacturing related deformations of the BepiColombo solar panel, a special measurement device has been developed, manufactured and comissioned with this device, the thermo-elastic deformations of the autoclave structure has been measured the measurement device achieves a high measurement accuracy by the use of materials with very low coefficient of thermal expansion
	Experimental Determination of Tilting Moment for a Pre-Tensioned Hold-Down-Stack of the BepiColombo Solar Generator the four panels of the Bepi Colombo solar generator are held down during launch by pretensioned stack of bushings at several positions the tilting moment caused by the launch shall not result in an opening/tilting of the pretensioned bushings the critical bending moments, which results in a tilting of the bushings and thus a reduction of the overall stiffness of the bushing stack, was determined by a special designed test set-up the critical moment was determined by evaluating the two linear section of the load-deflection curve prior and after the tilting the tilting moment was applied by a specially designed rope mechanism and the rope force was measured by two load cells the following sensors were applied to measure the deformation of the stack and the tilting of the individual bushings: photogrammetry inductive displacement sensor gapping extensometer strain gauges
	Performance of Cryogenic Tensile Tests at 20K for Aluminium Alloy for the Ariane Launcher design of der specimen geometry and manufacturing of specimens from provided raw material application of cryo capable strain gauges pre-tests at room temperature and 77K (LN2) test performance at 20K in liquid Helium (LHe) in a cryostat
	Structural-Mechanical and Thermal FEM Analysis of the EnMAP Calibration Unit the On Board Calibration Assembly (OBCA) provides the calibration of the spectrometer during operation several lamps and LEDs are combined in order to achieve the required spectrum through an Ulbricht sphere structural-mechanical analyses and optimisation have been performed: quasi static analysis modal analysis (resulting in a design modification for increasing stiffness) random vibration analysis (including notching) thermo-mechanical analysis (deformation and stress) thermal analyses: verification of temperature stability of lamps and LEDs for guaranteeing a constant spectrum during calibration development of a method for modelling the correct thermal radiation of Halogen lamps and LEDs investigation of different calibration profiles with transient thermal analyses
	Performance of Cryogenic Tensile Tests at 77K for Aluminium Specimens for the Ariane Launcher manufacturing of specimens from original ring segments of the launcher design and manufacturing of customer specific specimen support with special attention to a moment free load introduction application of cryo compatible strain gauges test performance at 77K in liquid nitrogen (LN2)
	Evaluation of the Effectivity of the Vibration- and Shock Generation Mechanism of the Exomars Grinder measurement of the impact of the impact mechanism which is used for the cleaning of the grinder selection of appropriate measurement locations and evaluation criteria application of four 3-axis and single axis shock sensors measurement of accelerations in dependence of impact intensity evaluation of visco-elastic washers for the reduction of the shock spectrum
	Shock Measurement for a Non Explosive Release Mechanism (NEA) mounting of the release mechanism on a elastically supported, representative Aluminium-sandwich plate determination of the shock response spectrum (SRS) in three directions and 4 locations measurement of the release shock in dependence on the pretension of the release mechanism computation of SRS and comparison with reference spectrum
	Performance of Flatwise Tensile Tests at 206°C for Sandwich Substrate Specimens for Bepi Colombo Solar Generators test performance according to customer specific procedure (based on ASTM C297 / C297M – 04) bonding of load introduction elements to the sandwich specimens ensuring of a moment-free load introduction test performance at 260°C in inert gas atmosphere characterisation of failure mode (adhesive failure / core failure)
	Performance of 4 Point Bending Tests for Sandwich Substrate Specimens for Bepi Colombo Solar Generators test performance according to customer specific procedure (based on ASTM D6272 – 10) application of strain gauges load test until failure testing of pre-damaged specimens (thermal vacuum cycling between -154°C and +195°C)
	Performance of Shear Tests for Sandwich Substrate Specimens for the Bepi Colombo Solar Generators test performance according to ASTM 273/C273M-07 manufacturing of load introduction elements and subsequent bonding to the CFRP face sheets of the sandwich specimens test of nominal specimens test of specimens with split core bonded by core splice adhesives
	Qualification of CFRP Elements of Bepi Colombo Solar Generators at Temperatures up to 260°C design of a test set-up for moment loads on the interface of three different structural elements consideration of different thermal expansions for the design of the load introduction element (decoupled connection of several load introduction locations) customer specific modification of a thermal chamber for tempering in inert gas conditions up to 260°C application of high temperature strain gauges visual inspection load testing until failure localisation and characterisation of the failure
	Qualification of Optical Coatings qualification tests of optical coatings for the EnMAP double slit component characterisation and verification of optical properties before and after environmental tests: BRDF (bi-directional reflectance distribution function) reflectivity absorbance environmental tests: thermal vacuum cycling adhesion testing before and after environmental testing
	Performance of Micro-Vibration-Tests for a Mirror System on an Optical Bench Microvibrations play an increasingly important role in the design of space based optical instruments as e.g. the optical bench of an earth observation satellite perturbations caused by reaction wheels or cryo-cooler exert dynamic forces on opto-mechanical structures in the sub-Newton range the resulting oscillations of mirrors produce dynamic variations of the Line-Of-Sight and thus a structure-optics interaction especially perturbations close to the eigenfrequencies of the optical structure can result in LOS variation reaching pixel size on the detector and thus in a degradation of image quality for the investigation of the effects of micro-vibrations on optical structure, a generic test set-up has been developed and manufactured in collaboration with OHB Space Systems Munich (formerly Kayser-Threde GmbH): an optical bench with mirror supports, mirrors and representative bi-pod supports a base plate as substitute for the interface to the satellite bus structure a reference measurement plate for providing the reference beam (HeNe-Laser) and the measurement of the resulting LOS deviations using Position Sensitive Devices (PSD, optical position sensor) highly sensitive acceleration sensors mounted to the optical and mechanical components 5N-Inertial actuator for the micro-vibration excitation for verifying the opto-mechanical characteristics of the test set-up determined in FEM simulations, various tests have been performed: static LOS test experimental modal analysis using a laser vibrometer micro-vibration tests for the determination of the transfer functions: evaluation of the linearity with respect to excitation amplitude determination of vibration energy loss / damping at the connections between components evaluation of the accuracy of FEM simulations
	High Shock Load Testing of Electronics Box electronics boxes, which are directly mounted to the launcher structure (e.g. for video processing), experience high shock loads during launch and stage separation the required high shock levels often cannot be achieved using standard vibration test equipment like electrodynamic shaker shock tests using mechanical impact devices as e.g. a shock bench are an economical alternative to pyrotechnical shock tests a mechanical impact device, which achieves the very high shock loads required for this application scenario of electronics boxes, was developed, manufactured, and commissioned in addition to standard shock load proof tests, the sliding of bolted connections during shock events has been investigated
	EnMAP-Subsystem Management of the Opto-Mechanical Component "Field Splitter Slit Assembly (FSSA)" the FSSA is a micro-scale optical component whose key elements are two parallel slits ( 24mm x 24µm each) and a micro mirror the FSSA is a component that has to be positioned in the focal plane of the telescope with very high precision the structuring of the slits is performed by silicon etching processes the micro-mirror, opto-mechanical components are joined by complex bonding processes with high precision for achieving the thermo-mechanical stability as well as contour accuracy, the design and material selection was optimised, and FEM simulations of the critical load cases were performed the FSSA, the applied materials and surfaces have been qualified with respect to mechanical and optical properties in complex experimental investigations with various environmental conditions
	Shock Test on a Shock Isolation Stage for Electronics Boxes performance of shock tests for the determination and optimisation of the damping properties based on the shock response spectrum (SRS) measurement of the shock levels by shock accelerometers (20.000g) with a sampling rate of 200 kHz calculation of the shock response spectra and evaluation of the performance of the shock dampers (STOP-CHOC Â®) and the screwed connection application of shock loads up to 24.000g (SRS) by mechanical impact device
	Bepi Colombo- CTE-Measurements of a C/SiC Tube development of a test device for measuring the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of a C/SiC tube (carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide, structural element of the high gain antenna of the Bepi Colombo mission) determination of the CTE under vacuum conditions in a temperature range from -180°C up to max. 500°C accuracy of the CTE measurement: 1E-9 to 1E-8 [1/K]
	Design Study for a CFRP Optical Bench concept study for a CFRP optical bench for an Italian scientific satellite investigations of various low CTE carbon fibres and cyanate ester resins evaluation of moisture expansion and minimisation by a moisture barrier
	Bepi Colombo Solar Coupon - Phoenix development tests of solar generator sample for the Bepi-Colombo mission thermal vacuum tests thermal cycling: +230°C to -150°C functional tests in thermal vacuum conditions ( e.g. electric tests)
	Low Shock Release Unit (LSRU) Thermal Vacuum Functional Test development test for evaluation of release time of the LSRU at extreme temperatures integration of LSRU in the KRP thermal-vacuum chamber electrical release determination of release time and electric current consumption of the solenoid actuator performance of thermal cycling in vacuum conditions temperature range: -95°C / +120°C
	Low Shock Release Unit Qualification Testing space-qualification tests for the 16- and 33KN Low Shock Release Units tests : static proof-load test determination of shock-load functional tests for release at room temperature and at thermal-vacuum conditions thermal cycling tests vibration tests (sinus and random excitation)