JPH0563360B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a method for supporting an artificial satellite stored in a rocket.

[Technical background and problems of the invention]

Artificial satellites used for communication, practical observation, scientific observation, etc. are launched by rockets toward their target orbits. Usually, these artificial satellites are placed at the tip of the rocket, and the acoustic signals during the first stage's flight are , and is housed within the satellite fairing to protect it from aerodynamic heating. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, an artificial satellite main body 1 is installed on a final stage rocket 2 via a satellite separating section 3, and is covered with a special-structured fairing 4 made of aluminum alloy or the like. This support method for the satellite main body 1 is called the PUSH method, and the satellite main body as a whole receives a compressive load while in flight with the rocket. Note that 5 is a separation plane between the satellite separation unit 3 and the satellite main body 1, and 6 is an antenna installed on the satellite main body 1.

Incidentally, after the satellite is separated from the rocket, almost no external force is applied to the structure of the satellite body, but it is subjected to various large external forces during the launch of the rocket and during flight with the rocket. Therefore, it is required to have a structure that can sufficiently withstand these external forces and has a minimum weight. for example,
The satellite structure usually accounts for 5 to 20% of the total satellite weight, but a great deal of effort is required to reduce the structural weight to around 5%. In other words, if a satellite is subjected to a gravitational acceleration of approximately 12 g in the direction of the propulsion axis during launch, the load applied to a satellite structure weighing 500 kg, for example, would reach approximately 6 tons, and it would be difficult to support this load with a structure member weighing only 25 kg. Become. When configuring a satellite structure to sufficiently withstand environmental conditions such as external forces during launch, an increase in weight is unavoidable, resulting in a heavy structure that cannot easily meet the requirement of a minimum weight structure. There was a problem with getting used to it.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was made in order to solve the problems in the conventional satellite support system using the PUSH method, and it is possible to sufficiently withstand the loads applied during launch etc. without increasing the weight of the satellite structure. The purpose of this invention is to provide a method for supporting satellites in a rocket.

[Summary of the invention]

The first invention of the present application is characterized in that an interstage is disposed at the upper end of the final stage rocket, the satellite main body is suspended and supported from the upper end of the interstage, and the satellite main body is stored within the interstage. is characterized in that a satellite separation section is attached to the interstage, a first satellite is mounted and attached to the upper end of the satellite separation section, and a second satellite is suspended and supported from the lower end of the first satellite. This is intended to reduce the weight of the supported satellite body by applying a tensile load to the body during launch.

〔Example〕

Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining an embodiment of a satellite supporting method in a rocket according to the first invention of the present application. In the figure, 11 is the final stage rocket, and at its upper end there is an interstage 1 that also serves as a satellite separation part.
2 are connected and arranged, and an inwardly tapered annular satellite support member 13 is attached downward to the upper end of the interstage 12, and the support member 1
The satellite main body 14 is suspended from the lower end of the satellite 3. A satellite fairing 15 is attached to the upper end of the satellite support member 13 and is used to protect the satellite body 14. 16 is a separation plane between the interstage 12 and the satellite support member 13.

As described above, the satellite main body 14 is attached to the support member 13 in a hanging manner, and the interstage 1
2, a tensile load will be applied to the satellite main body 14 at the time of rocket launch. When the satellite body structure is subjected to a tensile load, its mechanical strength may be smaller than when it is subjected to a compressive load. This means, for example, that curtains can receive a certain amount of tensile load and can maintain their shape, but they cannot accept compressive loads, and they buckle immediately and are no longer able to maintain their shape. , which is immediately understandable.

Therefore, by suspending and supporting the satellite body so that a tensile load is applied as described above, the structure of the satellite is more The strength can be reduced, thereby making it possible to reduce the weight of the structure.

In this case, part of the satellite fairing is used as an interstage to support the satellite, which increases the weight on the rocket side, but since the weight of the satellite structure can be reduced, the weight of the satellite itself increases by the amount of the reduction. be able to. For example, H
- In the case of a rocket, it is said that a 1.7 kg increase in interstage weight (included in the rocket side weight) is equivalent to a 1 kg increase in satellite weight in terms of rocket performance. Therefore, by transferring as much of the weight of the satellite structure to the rocket side as possible, it is possible to increase the weight of the satellite as a whole, and from this point of view as well, this hanging support system is effective. For example, the suspended support method reduces the weight of the satellite structure by 10
Kg reduced, resulting in interstage weight of 15 kg
Even if it becomes 2 kg, it will be possible to add 2 kg of payload overall.

In the above embodiment, if there is a possibility that the satellite main body 14, which is suspended and supported, may sway laterally, a stopper may be appropriately provided at the lower end portion 14'.

This method of supporting a satellite by hanging is applicable not only when a single satellite is stored in a rocket as described above, but also when multiple satellites, such as two satellites, are mounted on the same rocket as described below. The present invention can also be applied to one of the methods for mounting and supporting a satellite. In other words, conventional multi-satellite mounting systems include the satellite mounting system used in Ariane rockets, but in this method, for example, two satellites are simply connected in cascade and placed on the final stage rocket. After performing the first stage of satellite separation, the attitude is changed to avoid collision with the first stage satellite, and the second stage of satellite separation is performed, in which two satellites are separated into a series at a predetermined time interval. It is something.

This satellite mounting system has the problem that multiple satellites can only be separated into series, making it difficult to conduct operations such as tracking that have strict time constraints. The second invention of the present application reduces the weight of the satellite structure by applying a suspension support method to one of the two satellites stored in the rocket. The above-mentioned problem is solved by making it possible to separate them simultaneously or in series.

That is, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining an embodiment of the second invention of the present application in which a suspension support method is applied to a two-satellite mounting system. In the figure,
21 is a final stage rocket, and a cylindrical interstage 22 is disposed at the upper end of the rocket 21. An aggregated satellite separation section 23 is attached to the upper end of the interstage 22. A first satellite 24 is mounted on the upper end surface of the separating section 23, and a second satellite 25 is mounted on the lower end surface of the separating section 23, with a nozzle 26 of an apogee engine mounted thereon. It is attached in a suspended state facing upward and is stored within the interstage 22. 27 is a satellite fairing for protecting satellites 24 and 25, and 28 is an interstage 22
This is the separation plane between the satellite and the integrated satellite separation unit 23.

By suspending and supporting the second-stage satellite 25 on the separation part 23 in this manner, the second-stage satellite structure is able to bear the entire tensile load when the rocket is launched, similar to the embodiment of the first invention. Therefore, the weight of the structure can be reduced compared to when the structure is subjected to compressive loads, and especially in the case of large satellites where buckling loads are a problem, the weight can be reduced considerably, so it is recommended to use large satellites as the second stage satellite. When placed, the effect becomes more noticeable.

Next, a satellite separation method for a rocket carrying two satellites shown in FIG. 3 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 4A, the satellite fairing is first jettisoned to separate the fairings. Next, after the transfer orbit is inserted, as shown in FIG. 4B, the interstage 22 and the integrated satellite separation section 23 are separated, and the two satellites 24 and 25 are simultaneously separated from the rocket section. At this time, if necessary, both satellites are made to spin. This spinning is performed by a gas jet device mounted on the satellite or a gas jet device installed in the satellite separation section 23. If only one satellite is to be spun, either a spin table is attached to the satellite separation unit 23 and a gas jet device on the satellite that prevents spinning is used to prevent the entire rotation, or a gas jet device mounted on the satellite separation unit 23 is used to prevent rotation. To prevent. Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, the first stage satellite 24 is separated from the satellite separation unit 23, and as shown in FIG.
is separated from the satellite separation unit 23 to complete the two-stage satellite separation operation.

In addition, the satellite support method in which one satellite is mounted using this aggregated satellite separation unit and the other satellite is supported by suspension allows two satellites to be separated into a series.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above based on the embodiments, each invention of the present application is such that at least one satellite body is suspended and disposed inside the rocket, and a tensile load is applied to the satellite body when the rocket is launched. Because of this structure, it is possible to significantly reduce the weight of the satellite structure, and it is possible to obtain effects such as being able to measure an increase in the weight of the satellite. In addition, the second application
In addition to the above-mentioned effects, the invention enables simultaneous separation of two satellites, giving a great degree of freedom to operations such as tracking, which are subject to severe time constraints.
Furthermore, since the satellite separation section is integrated into one, effects such as easy interface with the rocket section can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional satellite support method in a rocket, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining an embodiment of the first invention of the present application, and FIG. FIGS. 4A to 4D, which are schematic diagrams for explaining an embodiment of the second invention, are diagrams showing satellite separation aspects in a rocket to which the method shown in FIG. 3 is applied. In the figure, 11 is the final stage rocket, 12 is the interstage, 13 is the satellite support member, 14 is the satellite body, 15 is the satellite fairing, 16 is the separation surface, 21 is the final stage rocket, 22 is the interstage, and 23 is the integrated type. A satellite separating section, 24 is a first satellite, 25 is a second satellite, 26 is a nozzle, 27 is a satellite fairing, and 28 is a separation surface.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical interstage is disposed at the upper end of the final stage rocket, a satellite body is supported so as to be suspended from the upper end of the interstage, and the satellite body is stored within the interstage. A method for supporting an artificial satellite in a rocket, characterized in that the satellite is placed in a rocket. 2 A cylindrical interstage is arranged at the upper end of the final stage rocket, a satellite separation section is attached to the upper end of the interstage, a first satellite is mounted and arranged on the upper end of the separation section, and the separation section A method for supporting an artificial satellite in a rocket, comprising suspending and supporting a second satellite from a lower end thereof, and disposing the second satellite so as to be stored within the interstage.