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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Final Development, Testing, And Flight Preparation Of The Rigidizable Get-Away-Special Experiment (Rigex), Zachary R. Miller
Final Development, Testing, And Flight Preparation Of The Rigidizable Get-Away-Special Experiment (Rigex), Zachary R. Miller
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this research is to support the final development of the Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment (RIGEX). The RIGEX program is an experimental initial step in developing large-scale rigidizable inflatable structures, which can be utilized in space applications. The primary intent of RIGEX is to verify and validate ground testing of inflation and rigidization methods for inflatable space structures against a zero-gravity space environment. This is performed by designing a Canister for All Payload Ejections (CAPE) experiment to collect data on space rigidized structures for validation of ground testing methods. The results presented in this thesis provide documentation needed …
Structural Analysis Of The Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment, Anna E. Gunn-Golkin
Structural Analysis Of The Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment, Anna E. Gunn-Golkin
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this research was to validate the structural integrity of the Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment (RIGEX) and make appropriate improvements to the design, motivated by static and dynamic analysis results. RIGEX is designed to advance the use of rigidizable inflatable structures in the space environment by providing three sets of on-orbit test data on the structural characteristics of three thermoplastic composite tubes. This thesis discusses the RIGEX structural analysis. The term structural analysis refers to the development of a detailed finite element model and the tests for which the model was used. The finite element model provided an …
Detailed Design Of The Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment, Jeremy S. Goodwin
Detailed Design Of The Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment, Jeremy S. Goodwin
Theses and Dissertations
The Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment is a Space Shuttle experiment that will study the effects of the zero-gravity space environment on the deployment and modal analysis of three inflatable and rigidizable tubes using a sub-Tg rigidization technique. In 2004, RIGEX was transitioned from the Space Shuttle's Get-Away-Special (GAS) canister to its Canister for All Payload Ejections (CAPE), requiring several modifications to the design. The results of these modifications, along with further refinements made to previous efforts, combine to form the detailed design of the experiment. In addition to the design modifications, analyses were conducted to determine the containment capabilities of …
Characterization And Ground Test Of An Inflatable Rigidizable Space Experiment, Steven N. Lindemuth
Characterization And Ground Test Of An Inflatable Rigidizable Space Experiment, Steven N. Lindemuth
Theses and Dissertations
As greater capability is demanded of space-based assets, their size and complexity are growing. Inflatable, rigidizable structures offer significant improvements in the areas of weight, size, and complexity over traditional mechanically deployed systems. These structures are not well understood and little testing of them has been done in the space environment. Widespread acceptance of these technologies will not be achieved without significant reduction in the risk of using inflatable, rigidizable structures in space. The goal of this experiment is to verify and validate ground testing of small tubular truss structures for use in space. This experiment builds on previous research …