Development of a new class of satellites: a composite lightweight affordable spacecraft structure

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in partnership with Composite Optics Incorporated (COI) has successfully designed and tested a Composite Lightweight Affordable Structure (CLASS). The use of advanced composites in space applications is well developed, but the application of an all-composite satellite structure has not been achieved until now. The development of this low-cost, lightweight, composite technology for use in small satellite structures, in this case, for the Fast On-Orbit Recording of Transient Events (FORT{acute E}) satellite mission will make a considerable contribution to the advanced spacecraft community. A common practice for constructing small spacecraft structures is to use an all-aluminum spacecraft bus. Compared to a composite structure, this reduces the payload capacity significantly; however, the cost of the aluminum structure has historically been lower than one of that uses lightweight components. LANL mission requirements dictate the need for a long term solution that substantially increased the ratio of payload to structural mass while maintaining a low-risk low-cost approach. LANL intends to use the concept developed for FORT{acute E} on future missions requiring similar enhanced payload capacities. 1 fig.