Questions tagged [design]
Questions about how space vehicles and related hardware are designed. See also [structural-design] and [engine-design].
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Manned Spacecraft/Space Station design Requirements
I am looking for some document that summarizes all the aspects that need to be taken care of during design (structural resistance, life support system, thermal regulation, etc.). Something similar to ...
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Why is a cartoon character visible in the artist's rendition of the McDonnell Douglas X-33 proposal?
I think I have figured out the what, it’s just the who, when, where and why that I don’t have the answer to.
In 1995 during Phase I of the X-33 program NASA received proposals from Rockwell, McDonnell ...
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Why did SpaceX change Falcon 9’s engine configuration?
Why did the Falcon 9 go from a 3x3 configuration to a ring of 8 around a central engine? Was there some sort of aerodynamical advantage to be found or something?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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Ariane 6 upper stage schematic showing integration of APU
I've been reading about the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) on the Ariane 6 upper stage and am looking for a schematic showing how it's integrated into the stage.
From Thermal Control of the Cryogenic ...
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When sending a ship to mars what is the optimal travel path [duplicate]
its pretty self explanitory but I need to figure it out but not something from the past a ship that could be sent in the next 5-7 years what would be my time frame using the least amount of fuel and ...
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Why was the LES on Apollo white?
In below images they’re red for Mercury (both on the Redstone and Atlas boosters). But the Apollo ones are white. Why were the Launch Escape Systems of Apollo white?
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Can a Delta IV Medium fairing be put on a Delta IV Heavy for small payloads?
The Delta IV Heavy has a bigger fairing because it's able to lift heavier/bigger payloads, as we saw in this question. But if a payload is small and still needs a Delta IV Heavy because of its high ...
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Why is the Ariane 5 shorter than the Ariane 4?
Looking at below image, which compares heights of rockets, I couldn’t help but notice that the Ariane 5 was a short and fat rocket compared to the Ariane 4 (tall and thin). Why would this be ...
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Why is the Delta IV Heavy taller than the Delta IV Medium?
Looking at below picture, the Delta IV Heavy is clearly much taller than the Medium. Is there any specific reason why?
https://www.space.com/15078-rocket-launch-delta-4-milestone.html
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What changes to Voyager could have been made? [closed]
If during the planning and construction of the Voyager missions they knew what we know now, what changes to the missions would have been most helpful in augmenting the science obtained?
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Design constrains for non-aerobraking re-entry vehicle?
Currently, getting from orbit to ground always involves aerobraking to shed lots of orbital velocity. This is a dangerous, stressful maneuver which also cannot be repeated with same vehicle due to the ...
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Why was there a minimum height for astronauts?
According to this answer https://space.stackexchange.com/a/2254/44505 the minimum and maximum they could be were:
Pilots: Height between 62 and 75 inches. (1.57 to 1.90 meters)
Mission Specialists: ...
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What is the simplest rocket design that can reach orbit
I am curious on what the simplest possible rocket design that have been proposed which could reach orbit.
My first thoughts would be earlier rockets like the Atlas LV-3B, but then I consider the ...
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What is the propellant tank weight or weight ratio on dry weight of liquid propellant rocket engine?
I need propellant tank ( or oxidizer tank)'s dry weight- without propellant and engine mass. For example ARES-V's dry mass at earth departure stage is 21,795 kg, What percent of this is tanks' dry ...
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Why is there a need for a "forward skirt" segment on SLS solid rockets?
The SLS solid rockets have a "forward skirt segment" above the five true rocket propellent segments. What is the purpose of this segment? I believe that it contains the avionics for the ...
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In Apollo hardware, why were sump tanks needed?
I'm looking at the Apollo CSM Propulsion Systems. These were bi-propellant hypergolic systems. However, for some reason each type of propellant was divided into a storage and sump tank.
For example, ...
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Selecting an optimal Isp / what makes an Isp too high (mostly for high Isp)
When, and why, is it possible to have an Isp (usually of an ion or nuclear engine with Isp far beyond the limits of chemical fuel) that's too high? What makes the Isp too high, and (other things being ...
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What are the "disks" seen on the walls of some NASA space shuttles?
I'm deep-dive researching older NASA shuttles, and a few elements in this image of a toilet (which could be found on display at JSC in the early aughts) stood out to me. See the red circles I added to ...
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Material defects and its testing for manufacturing of parts
Is there any literature report on what is the level of testing at NASA on the defect sizes in raw material for manufacturing of parts for space shuttle and other space vehicles? For example, what is ...
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How would building rockets on other planets and moons influence their design?
John D. Clark's Ignition! says that a frequent problem with choosing propellants has been that they can be very challenging or dangerous to handle, or that they have a high melting point or a low ...
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Earth to Mars Transfer using GMAT
I saw a couple of people mention here that in order to change the epoch date from the given Mars transfer example on GMAT I would need to change and re-optimize initial conditions. How would I do that?...
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Why wasn't the wind and thermal shield of Insight's deployable seismometer integrated into the instrument before deployment?
This fascinating question and answer covers how Insight's seismometer was deployed by its robot arm, and how a subsequent robot arm maneuver covered it with a wind and thermal shield.
What parts of ...
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Spinlaunch Safety
How could the Spinlaunch concept ever be made so that, in the event of an anomaly where it is released at the wrong angle, it wouldn't obliterate a small town or city center?
Launch sites at Cape ...
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Specifications for Spacecraft interior and exterior paint colours
Are there specifications for Crewed mission spacecrafts in terms of interior and exterior paint colours?
I.e. Only specific paint colours are required internally and externally.
Can these paint ...
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Black/White patterns on SLS boosters, fairings - Are these still roll patterns
The main purpose of the large black/white patterns on many of the early rockets was to make it easier to spot whether the rocket is rolling. The pattern on the Saturn V was changed to avoid picking up ...
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Two-Stage Fully-Reusable Shuttle
In chapter 6 of SP-4221 "The Space Shuttle Decision" they are talking about the fall of the "Two-Stage Fully Reusable Shuttle".
In one paragraph they talk about how this Two-Stage ...
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Using belt drive in LEO spacecraft?
I am designing a concept for a LEO spacecraft and need to transmit mechanical power (0.5Nm @200rpm rotation) over a distance (1-2ft). Chains or belts would be a natural choice for terrestrial ...
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JWST - coordinates of each of the 18 mirror segments?
I am curious about the relative orientations and locations of each of the JWST’s 18 hexagonal mirrors, when they are in place.
The unfortunate (and subsequently corrected) problem with Hubble’s ...
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Mystery balls! Gemini apparently had "thousands of hollow ping-pong-sized balls made of extremely thin aluminum embedded within its walls". What?
This fascinating answer says that "The Gemini capsule floated because it had thousands of hollow balls made of extremely thin aluminum, each composed of two half-spheres welded together, the size ...
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Why aren't off-axis reflector telescopes more popular for space telescopes? Have there ever been any?
It seems that:
The light gathering capabilities would be slightly better without the blocked aperture (clear aperture is a premium for fairing-limited space telescopes)
The diffraction patterns from ...
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Has Falcon 9 block 5's design stopped evolving?
Spacex famously iteratively improves the design when developing rockets, with each unit being slightly (or not-so-slightly) better than the previous.
These days Spacex seems to be focusing most of ...
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Why does Q-SAT look like a buckyball?
Tech.China.Com.cn's August 7, 2020 article Tsinghua University Successfully Launched Gravity and Atmospheric Science Satellite (Chinese, title translated to English) includes the image above of what I ...
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What fraction of the Kapton thickness on the ISS' solar panels was likely eroded throughout their lifetime? Predictions? Measurements?
Background
@Tristan's answer to How are the silicon PV cells constructed in the ISS's solar panels? Are they as flexible as they appear here? informs us that Kapton is part of the "blanket" ...
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How is a desired chamber pressure achieved in a liquid rocket engine
Before everyone responds that this has been asked before, I have read through every relevant post I could find here and believe my question has not been clearly covered.
I also understand that "...
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What is this term in the link budget equation from Space Mission Analysis and Design (SMAD)?
Looking at the 3rd edition of Space Mission Analysis and Design by Wertz and Larson, their equation (13-4) presents the link equation,
$\frac{E_b}{N_0} = \frac{PL_\ell G_t L_s L_a G_r}{k T_s R}$,
with ...
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How the number of Sun sensors is chosen for a given spacecraft and mission?
I have to study an ADCS sensors suite and I am struggling to find a criteria to decide how many and in which directions the sun sensors shall be mounted, considering that they are coupled with star ...
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How can the proposed LUVOIR space telescope slew to different directions while keeping the sunshade in a fixed orientation? What compensates?
In this answer to Why does JWST have such a big Blind Spot? I mention that it moves as a rigid body; in order to change the direction the telescope is pointing the whole spacecraft slews, including ...
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General range of maximum RPMs used in reaction wheels in spacecraft?
I was wondering what would be the general range of RPMs used in Reaction Wheels (RW) on a satellite, and I have several closely related questions on this topic:
It would definitely depend on the max ...
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Are any space agencies working on an (essentially) 100% reliable sterilization technique for spacecraft bound for subsurface ocean worlds?
One answer to my previous question Is there any demonstrated or even proposed technology that can sterilize a spacecraft with 100% certainty and yet leave it electronically functional? asserts:
...
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Has SpaceX chosen to drop the Transpiration cooling of Starship? If so, why?
Earlier, there was news about a proposed concept for Starship to include "transpirational cooling" in its reentry heat shield design.
These days there is less news about this and tests so ...
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Biggest periscope camera that could fit inside a Starlink satellite; how thick are they?
If all Starlink satellites had phone tier cameras & simple scopes, could images processed by their super-resolution imaging network be competitive? is a cool question and to integrate a reasonable ...
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Why haven't we seen more origami in spacecraft?
I remember watching a few videos awhile back talking about origami designs in spacecraft:
Origami in Space: BYU-designed solar arrays inspired by origami
Engineering with Origami
I've only done a ...
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Why do Teledesic satellites look so weird? What are these structures and where's the satellite bus?
source enlarged and sharpened
To my untrained eye I see a weird claw or flower-like antenna array with eight petals in the shape reminiscent of concave dish but not really, that look like they might ...
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How did Sputnik 1's antennas couple to its body, electrically and mechanically?
Looking at https://www.britannica.com/technology/satellite-communication/Development-of-satellite-communication I found the image of a model of Sputnik 1 below.
It shows details of its four rod ...
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First cylindrical Earth satellite? Last?
Sputnik 1 was a shiny metal sphere, as were it's immediate followers.
These days Earth satellites are generally rectangular prisms, either one or a few stuck together. Basically big metal chassis ...
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what kind of valves are used in payload fairing for venting?
I wanted to know that there have been a handful of literature that mentions vent openings in the rocket payload fairings. However, none specify the kind of valves used in those fairings? does anyone ...
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How (the heck) did Lunokhod 2 drive, navigate and survive a ~40 kilometer drive over four months on the Moon using 1970's technology?
Mashable.com's Every rover, ranked by distance traveled on the moon and Mars; The 13 rovers, ranked. calls attention to this amazing feat, and a review of basic statistics and discussions on odometry ...
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How do they know that the Dragonfly helicopter won't get quickly coated in tholin muck? Any desliming technology for camera lenses or propellors?
From Air and Space's Dragonfly Is the First Aircraft Built for the Outer Solar System; NASA returns to Saturn’s largest moon with a rover that can fly. which I just found in this heavily-sourced ...
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How does the Dragonfly helicopter for Titan compare to Perseverance, Ingenuity and a human in terms of size, mass, weight and daily range?
It wasn't until Are Perseverance's wheels really this big? that I realized just how big Curiosity and Perseverance probably are. Writing What is the pop-up circular disk with spiral pattern in ...
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What is the pop-up circular disk with spiral pattern in this NASA animation of the Dragonfly helicopter for Titan? Antenna? Kind, band, target?
At 00:36 in the June 2019 NASA video Dragonfly: NASA's New Mission to Explore Saturn's Moon Titan the animation shows it landing then deploying a circular disk with ...
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