Shear Stabilization Based Framework for the Failure Testing and Analysis of HSCs

Over the past 2 years, Roccor has successfully qualified and delivered High Strain Composite (HSC) products for space-flight customers including, 1) RF-Furlable boom, 2) a furlable-antenna system; and is currently qualifying HSC products for space-flight customers including 3) an FCC certified deorbit device, and 4) a solar array deployment system. Three of these missions will be launched in 2018. Each mission’s development and qualification program followed a similar test and analysis plan to that illustrated in below figure. Although these four missions were relatively risk tolerant, Roccor identified several tasks with a lack of industry accepted practices. These tasks proved to be very costly, schedule-intensive, and performance-limiting. The lack of standards creates a roadblock for the use of HSCs for high value DoD or NASA missions for which a new class of high performance deployable structures would be enabling. Roccor views collaboration with the broader space-flight community to develop industry-accepted HSC engineering tools, tests, and qualification methods as vital to its business model. The proposed efforts of this Phase II program will develop both the tools and tests required to produce meaningful qualification methods, thus enabling more capable and robust satellites for the AF and commercial sectors alike.