3721. A Weight and Center of Gravity Instrument for Measuring Manned Spacecraft

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Title3721. A Weight and Center of Gravity Instrument for Measuring Manned Spacecraft
Publication TypeConference Paper
Paper Number3721
Year of Publication2019
AuthorsOtlowski, Dan
Category Number9
Conference78th Annual Conference, Norfolk, VA
Conference LocationNorfolk, Virginia
PublisherSociety of Allied Weight Engineers, Inc.
Date Published05/2019
Abstract

Rocketry dynamics equations prescribe that the mass properties of spacecraft, particularly the spacecraft’s mass and center of gravity (CG), be carefully choreographed throughout the launch, mission execution, and recovery stages. Mission design carefully selects CG locations for each of the spacecraft modules alone and in combinations, making CG verification an important step toward ensuring mission success. Measuring the CG of large spacecraft presents many of the typical problems associated with measuring CG of smaller objects. Some of these issues are commonly: constructing a measuring system with known geometry, maintaining the repeatability of said geometry under a wide array of load conditions, selecting force transducers with sensitivity appropriate to the verification tolerance, preserving that sensitivity throughout the measurement, and devising a method to relate the spacecraft’s datum to the instrument’s datum. A purpose-built, mass properties measurement solution that addresses all of these issues is the topic of this paper. In this paper, we will describe the form of the instrument, detail enabling technologies, explain performance drivers, and summarize our results.

Pages23
Key Words09. Weighing Equipment
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