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Objectives
This project is devoted to the pre-development of Alphabus Central Tube (@CT), equipment, which belongs to the structure subsystem of the Alphabus spacecraft. This pre-development consists of designing, developing, manufacturing a Bread Board of the central tube in order to demonstrate feasibility and adequacy between Fiber Placement Process (EADS CASA in-house available process) and selected materials and designs
Challenges
The first phase of the project, called the concurrent engineering phase, aims to choose as materials for the central tube the best carbon fibers with regards to mechanical performance (stiffness, buckling and stresses) and industrial considerations (procurement, costs, compatibility with Fiber Placement Technology). The other issue regarding this phase consists of analysing the best configuration for the shell of the tube between a monolithic and standard sandwich.
The next phase, once the fibers and configuration are frozen, consists of validating the feasibility and capability of sub-contractors to meet the technical requirements for @CT, through Bread-Board manufacturing (with the Fiber Placement process) and sample testing.
Current Status
The CASA central tube has been selected for Alphabus. The predevelopment has been completed with the manufacturing of a representative breadboard.