Development of an All-composite Spacecraft Bus for Small Satellite Programs

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in partnership w~h Composite Optics Incorporated (COl), is advancing the development of low-cost, light-weight composite technology for use in small satellites. The use of advance composites in space applications is well-developed, but the application of an all-composite satellite bus has never been achieved. In this paper, we investigate the application of composite technology to the design and fabrication of an all-composite spacecraft bus for small satellites. The satellite program Fast,On-orbit Recording of Transient Events (FORTE) is the second in a series of satellites to be launched into orbit for the DOE. The FORTE program objective is to record atmospheric bursts of electromagnetic radiation. This paper will discuss the issues of design, analysis, testing, and fabrication required to deliver the spacecraft and its associated components within a two-year period. The spacecraft will be launched into Low Earth Orbit in late 1995 from a Pegasus-XL launch vehicle. Due to the extremely tight time constraints, a novel low-cost solution using Graphite Fiber Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) composites was required to achieve the performance goals of the mission. In addition, the paper will give the details of material selection, characterization of design allowables, the approach used in determining the structural geometry which will provide the optimum performance for this mission. Acknowledgments; This work is supported by the U. S. Department of Energy. The lightning imager utilizes the design developed by Dr. Hugh Christian, NASAlMSFC We gratefully acknowledge Tom Butler, Manuel Gomez, Rick Hinckley, Dr. Stephen Knox, Charles Johnson, Roger Smith and Erik Swensen for their contribution to this paper.