Design and Testing of an Adjustable Thruster Bracket

Space Systems/Loral Engineering, 2006-07

Liaison(s): Mark Zanella
Advisor(s): Clive Dym
Students(s): Laurel Fullerton (TL), Peter Hillegas, Allison Hutchings, Eli Kwitman, Nick Sherrow-Groves (F), Alexandria Kealey (S)

Well-aligned attitude adjustment thrusters are essential for maneuvering satellites in space. Current thruster bracket designs, however, do not allow for easy adjustment of thruster position. The goal of this Clinic project was to design and test a thruster bracket that has a full range of adjustment. Team members developed potential designs, modeled the most promising with finite-element software, and verified the results of the finite-element analysis with a physical prototype.