Applications for the Archinaut In Space Manufacturing and Assembly Capability

Kugler, Justin; Cherston, Juliana; Joyce, Eric R.; Shestople, P.; Snyder, Michael P.

doi:10.2514/6.2017-5365

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…An advantage of ISM is that manufactured structures in space does not have to withstand substantial vibrations of the rocket launch. Therefore, structures can be thinner, kilometers-long, and optimized for its primary use without considering stabilisation or packaging Kugler et al (2017). MIS is developing new additive manufacturing technologies and assembly to create space-structures with an indefinite size on-orbit in the project ArchinAut.…”

Section: Additive Manufacturing Under Microgravity and Vacuummentioning

confidence: 99%

Additive Manufacturing Under Lunar Gravity and Microgravity

Reitz

Lotz

Gerdes

et al. 2021

Microgravity Sci. Technol.

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Mankind is setting to colonize space, for which the manufacturing of habitats, tools, spare parts and other infrastructure is required. Commercial manufacturing processes are already well engineered under standard conditions on Earth, which means under Earth’s gravity and atmosphere. Based on the literature review, additive manufacturing under lunar and other space gravitational conditions have only been researched to a very limited extent. Especially, additive manufacturing offers many advantages, as it can produce complex structures while saving resources. The materials used do not have to be taken along on the mission, they can even be mined and processed on-site. The Einstein-Elevator offers a unique test environment for experiments under different gravitational conditions. Laser experiments on selectively melting regolith simulant are successfully conducted under lunar gravity and microgravity. The created samples are characterized in terms of their geometry, mass and porosity. These experiments are the first additive manufacturing tests under lunar gravity worldwide.

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Section: Additive Manufacturing Under Microgravity and Vacuummentioning

confidence: 99%

Additive Manufacturing Under Lunar Gravity and Microgravity

Reitz

Lotz

Gerdes

et al. 2021

Microgravity Sci. Technol.

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“…The cross-section of the truss samples was formed of equilateral triangles with side lengths of 75 mm, and the truss was used to mount solar panels [6,7]. The Archinaut Project successfully achieved additive manufacturing by using extended structural additive manufacturing machine technology in a thermal-vacuum, space-like environment, and a 37.7 m trussed girder structure was fabricated [8]. San Diego Composites designed an advanced continuous composite truss printing system to fabricate lightweight composite trusses for solar array support structures in situ after launch [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research and Validation of CF/PEEK-Based Truss Rod Crimping and Pultruding Process for On-Orbit Isoform Forming

Yan,

Li,

Geng

et al. 2024

Materials

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A crimping and pultruding forming process for truss rods using Carbon Fiber (CF)/Polyether–Ether–Ketone (PEEK) prepreg tape as the raw material is proposed to address the problem of continuous manufacturing of space trusses on orbit. The proposed process provides material rods for continuous truss manufacturing. Through numerical simulation and experimental verification, the effects of relevant parameters on the forming process are determined, an efficient method of rod curl pultrusion, in-rail, equal material forming is proposed, and the structural configuration of the rod curl pultrusion forming mold is determined. The equivalent macroscopic mechanical properties of unidirectional CF/PEEK prepreg strips are considered, and the rod-forming process is investigated. Rod samples with different process parameters are prepared, and several tests are conducted on them. The results show that the forming load pull is negatively correlated with the temperature at the same forming speed, and forming speed is positively correlated with the forming load pull at a certain temperature. Temperature and speed affect the surface quality of the rod, the density of the material filling, and the mechanical properties of the rod. The optimal forming process parameters are determined through numerical simulation and experimental verification. The developed molding technology has the advantages of high efficiency, low energy consumption, and high integration. It reduces manufacturing costs and improves manufacturing efficiency, so it can serve as a new and effective solution for the manufacturing of high-performance truss rods in the aerospace field.

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“…Further concepts have been proposed which would use AM to manufacture and assemble large structures exposed to the space environment; these typically depend on a combination of extruding standard parts, which are then assembled together using robotic manipulators. Examples include SpiderFab (Hoyt et al, 2016;Levedahl et al, 2018) and Archinaut (Kugler et al, 2017). Though capable of manufacturing large structures, this approach does not make use of one of the key advantages of additive manufacturing -the ability to produce parts of any shape, and the elimination of assembly processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Additive Manufacturing of Large Structures Using Free-Flying Satellites

Jonckers

Tauscher

Thakur

et al. 2022

Front. Space Technol.

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In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) is being investigated as a method for producing larger, cheaper, and more capable spacecraft and space stations. One of the most promising manufacturing techniques is additive manufacturing (AM) due to its inherent flexibility and low waste. The feasibility of a free-flying small spacecraft to manufacture large structures using a robotic arm with an AM end effector has been examined. These large structures would aid the construction of a large space station or spacecraft. Using the Experimental Lab for Proximity Operations and Space Situational Awareness (ELISSA) at the Institute of Space Systems at TU Braunschweig, a process has been designed and tested which is capable of producing structures with arbitrary length. This process was demonstrated by manufacturing support free truss elements of unlimited length using a free-floating mobile robot. Avenues for further extending the process to produce structures of any size in 3D space are discussed.

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Applications for the Archinaut In Space Manufacturing and Assembly Capability

Cited by 13 publications

References 9 publications

Additive Manufacturing Under Lunar Gravity and Microgravity

Additive Manufacturing Under Lunar Gravity and Microgravity

Research and Validation of CF/PEEK-Based Truss Rod Crimping and Pultruding Process for On-Orbit Isoform Forming

Additive Manufacturing of Large Structures Using Free-Flying Satellites

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