Course Contents Spacecraft and launcher structures are subjected to extreme environments, making their design and development and the
verification thereof (DVV) very complex. In this course
the design of the main spacecraft structure, the structural behaviour of non-structural spacecraft components and their interaction
will be illustrated and addressed through the design of the structure of a spaceborne instrument. Thermal elastics and dynamics
of the instrument structure will be considered. In small groups, participating students will have to design their own instrument
structure, addressing both thermo-elastics and vibrations. Verification and validation of the designs will be addressed as well.
The course will consist of seven weekly modules. In these modules the following topics will be covered:
- Introduction
- Thermo-Elastics
- Vibrations
- Systems Engineering
- Verification and Validation
The order of the subjects may differ from the above list. The course structure will be explained in detail in the first weekly
module. Students are requested to reserve all scheduled timeslots in their agendas.
Each module will consist of a combination of learning activities, e.g. reading suggested papers, watching videos and small
assignments.
Note that, the course will require group work. Groups will be formed in the first week of the course. Students who are not part of
a group cannot participate in the course. For the purpose of the course, each group will be considered to be a company that tries
to win the bid of a large space organization to engineer a space instrument.
At the end of the course, a mini-symposium will be organized in which each group presents their design for the space instrument
structure.
Study Goals The overall educational goal of the course is to provide students with an advanced understanding of the design, development and
verification of spacecraft. Successful students will be able to:
- Interpret and analyze a requirement specification for a spacecraft payload or instrument
- Assess what the design drivers for the structural subsystem of a spacecraft payload or instrument are.
- Describe how vibration and thermo-elastic considerations affect the design choices and interact with each other.
- Develop a conceptual design and perform initial sizing by analysis of the structural (and to some extent, thermal) subsystem of
a spacecraft payload or instrument.
- Describe in detail how the design of a structural subsystem of a spacecraft payload or instrument can be verified and validated
