1. Thermo-Bimorph Microcilia Arrays for Small Spacecraft Docking
- Author
-
Joel Reiter, John W. Suh, Gregory T. A. Kovacs, Karl F. Böhringer, and Mason Terry
- Subjects
Microelectromechanical systems ,Normal force ,Materials science ,Spacecraft ,Docking (molecular) ,business.industry ,Bimorph ,Aerospace engineering ,business ,Actuator ,Simulation - Abstract
Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology promises to improve performance of future spacecraft components while reducing mass, cost, and manufacture time. Arrays of microcilia actuators offer a lightweight alternative to conventional docking systems for miniature satellites. Instead of mechanical guiding structures, such a system uses a surface tiled with MEMS actuators to guide the satellite to its docking site. This paper describes an experimental setup for precision docking of a “picosatellite” with the help of MEMS cilia arrays. Microgravity is simulated with an aluminum puck on an airtable. A series of experiments is performed to characterize the cilia, with the goal to understand the influence of normal force, picosat mass, docking velocity, cilia frequency, interface material, and actuation strategy (“gait”) on the performance of the MEMS docking system. We demonstrate a 4 cm2 cilia array capable of docking a 45 gram picosat with a 2 mm2 contact area at micrometer precision. It is concluded that current MEMS cilia arrays are useful to position and align miniature satellites with up to several kg of mass.
- Published
- 2000
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