Engineering topics

Boling, David

Publications and source records attributed to Boling, David.

4 records

NASA NTRS2018

Testing and Development of NEA Scout Solar Sail Deployer Mechanism

The Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout is a deep space CubeSat designed to use an 86 square meter solar sail to navigate to a near earth asteroid called VG 1991. The solar sail deployment mechanism aboard NEA Scout has gone through numerous design cycles and ground tests since its conception in 2014. An engineering development unit (EDU) was constructed in the spring of 2016 and since then, the NEA Scout team has completed numerous ground deployments aiming to mature the deployment system and the ground test methods used to validate that system. Testing a large, non-rigid gossamer system in 1G environments has presented its difficulties to numerous solar sailing programs before, but NEA Scout’s size, sail configuration, and budget has led the team to develop new deployment techniques and uncover new practices while improving their test methods. NEA Scout’s spooled sail and boom design differs from any solar sail design to date: a single square sail membrane spooled upon a non-circular mandrel and the booms are spooled on two separate coils. This configuration was necessitated by the 6U footprint and is not common among other solar sailing missions. The program has planned and completed 3 separate full scale sail deployments to date, with a flight sail deployment test scheduled for FY18. The sail deployment tests have helped mature flight operations plans and developed preliminary off-nominal deployment mitigation strategies. The paper entitled “Design and Development of NEA Scout Solar Sail Deployer Mechanism” was presented at the 43rd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium. Since then, the system has matured and completed ascent vent, random vibration, boom deployment and sail deployment tests. This paper will discuss the lessons learned and advancements made while working on solar sail testing and redesign cycles.

Few, Alex↗

NASA NTRS2018

Testing and Maturing a Mass Translating Mechanism for a Deep Space CubeSat

Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout is a deep space satellite set to launch aboard NASA’s Exploration Mission 1. The spacecraft fits within a CubeSat standard 6U (about 300 x 200 x 100 mm) and is designed to travel 1 AU over a 2.5 year mission to observe NEA VG 1991. The spacecraft will use an 86 square meter solar sail to maneuver from lunar orbit to the NEA. One of the critical mechanisms aboard NEA Scout, the Active Mass Translator (AMT), has gone through rigorous design and test cycles since its conception in July of 2015. The AMT is a two-axis translation table required to balance the spacecraft’s center of mass (CM) and solar sail center of pressure (CP) while also trimming disturbance torque created by off-nominal sail conditions. The AMT has very limited mass and volume requirements, but is still required to deliver a large translation range—about 160 x 68 mm—at sub mm accuracy and precision. The system must accommodate and protect a shielded wire harness and coax cables during translation. Lastly, the system has been constrained to operate in complete exposure to space with limited power and data budgets for mechanical and thermal needs. The NEA Scout team has developed and carried out a rigorous test suite for the prototype and engineering development unit (EDU). These tests uncovered numerous design failures and led to many failure investigations and iteration cycles. This paper will site each discovery and discuss at length the most surprising and difficult failures to date as the NEA Scout AMT moved through functional, random vibration, thermal vacuum, harnessing, and design life verification testing. A paper was previously presented at the 43rd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposia entitled, “Development of a High Performance, Low Profile Translation Table with Wire Feedthrough for a Deep Space CubeSat”. This paper will make note of specific lessons learned from the test activities: testing ideologies for high-risk missions, thermal mitigation design for small mechanisms, non-flight qualified stepper motor accommodation, harnessing volume allocation/design, and ground testing of mechanisms developed for zero-g environments.

Few, Alex↗

NASA NTRS2018

Testing and Development of NEA Scout Solar Sail Deployer Mechanism

The Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) [1] Scout is a deep space CubeSat designed to use an 86 m2 solar sail to navigate to a near earth asteroid called VG 1991. The solar sail deployment mechanism aboard NEA Scout has gone through numerous design cycles and ground tests since its conception in 2014. An engineering development unit (EDU) was constructed in the spring of 2016 and since then, the NEA Scout team has completed numerous ground deployments aiming to mature the deployment system and the ground test methods used to validate that system. Testing a large, non-rigid gossamer system in 1G environments has presented its difficulties to numerous solar sailing programs before, but NEA Scout's size, sail configuration, and budget has led the team to develop new deployment techniques and uncover new practices while improving their test methods. The program has planned and completed 5 separate full scale sail deployments to date, with a flight sail deployment test scheduled for FY18. The paper entitled "Design and Development of NEA Scout Solar Sail Deployer Mechanism" [2] was presented at the 43rd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposia. Since then, the system has matured and completed ascent vent, random vibration, boom deployment and sail deployment tests. This paper will discuss the lessons learned and advancements made while working on solar sail deployment testing and mechanical redesign cycles.

Few, Alex↗

NASA NTRS2018

Testing and Maturing a Mass Translating Mechanism for a Deep Space CubeSat

Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout is a deep space satellite set to launch aboard NASA's Exploration Mission 1. The spacecraft fits within a CubeSat standard 6U (about 300 x 200 x 100 mm) and is designed to travel 1 AU over a 2.5 year mission to observe NEA VG 1991. The spacecraft will use an 86 sq.m solar sail to maneuver from lunar orbit to the NEA. One of the critical mechanisms aboard NEA Scout, the Active Mass Translator (AMT), has gone through rigorous design and test cycles since its conception in July of 2015. The AMT is a two-axis translation table required to balance the spacecraft's center of mass (CM) and solar sail center of pressure (CP) while also trimming disturbance torque created by off-nominal sail conditions. The AMT has very limited mass and volume requirements, but is still required to deliver a large translation range-about 160 x 68 mm-at sub mm accuracy and precision. The system is constrained to operate in complete exposure to space with limited power and data budgets for mechanical and thermal needs. The NEA Scout team developed and carried out a rigorous test suite for the prototype and engineering development unit (EDU). These tests uncovered numerous design failures and led to many failure investigations and iteration cycles. A paper was previously presented at the 43rd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposia entitled, "Development of a High Performance, Low Profile Translation Table with Wire Feedthrough for a Deep Space CubeSat". This paper will make note of specific lessons learned: manufacturing philosophy, testing ideologies for high-risk missions, thermal mitigation design for small, motor-driven mechanisms.

Few, Alex↗