BBDM TECHNOLOGIES
Project Team: David "Jason" Wilkins, Brad Deutsch, Brian Neiss, Mohd Chemat
Executive Summary:The Penn State Aerospace Department, in conjunction with NASA and the US Air Force, is developing a fifth generation nano-satellite to collect important data about radio frequencies in the earth’s ionosphere. One key element of the nano-satellite is a mechanism to maintain satellite attitude, or alignment. This will be best accomplished by a lightweight inflatable boom which will self-cure into a rigid structure in the sun’s ultra violet (UV) rays. This material technology has been heavily developed and researched by ILC Dover. Since 1947, ILC Dover has been actively designing and developing innovative products and materials for the government and industry. Much of their work has been in space materials, including the design of NASA spacesuits. Due to the specifics and requirements of such a special material, it is extremely likely that ILC Dover will be needed to provide the boom material for the final satellite.
However, a tailored storage and deployment system for this boom needs to be developed and tested. Due to the small size of the satellite and weight issues, the system needs to be as light as possible while efficiently and safely stowing the boom until orbit is reached and deployment can begin. It has been proposed that an inflation system using pressure tanks from LionSat III be developed. This system will use argon gas to inflate the boom and maintain pressure until the boom can self-cure and become a stable extension of the satellite. An electric release valve needs to be designed to start and control the release of gas, and a storage and deployment model needs to be developed that will allow the boom to stow in a small space yet still easily inflate to full length with limited pressure.
BBDM Technologies will work with the nano-sat team to develop a model system to demonstrate this effective release, as well as continue research and work with ILC Dover to ensure that the system can be employed for use with the actual boom material when the final satellite design is undertaken. This will involve testing ILC’s material at different temperatures and UV exposures while also developing and testing several deployment configurations to determine which can be best applied to the nano-sat. Inflation dynamics will be considered, along with specific storage considerations and restrictions. These models will allow the team to optimize the system to work within the stringent constraints imposed by the nano-sat project.
This project will be undertaken throughout the spring 2007 semester. Each week specific goals will be set and the team will work together and independently to assure that these goals, and ultimately the overall design project, are successfully completed.
The final results should provide a clear-cut direction for the future of the UV inflatable boom section of the nano-sat project.
Date: Spring 2007
Faculty Coach: Dr. Matt Parkinson - Mechanical Engineering Department
Sponsor: Penn State Aerospace Program