European Space Thermal Engineering Workshop 2019

Sentinel-1 thermally activated Separation Bracket

9 Oct 2019, 14:00

30m

Newton 1

thermal design (for platforms, instruments etc.) Thermal Testing

Speaker

Arne Sauer (Airbus Defence and Space GmbH)

Description

The presentation deals with the design, function and qualification process of a thermally activated separation bracket. This new principle was developed for Sentinel-1 C&D in order to support the satellites demise and thus avoid satellite parts hitting the ground after re-entry.
The principle is based on a soldered cup-cone fixation between antenna and bus. During re-entry, as soon as a temperature of around 140°C is reached at the fixation, the separation bracket is activated and "unsolders", thus the antenna is separated from the bus. This configuration reduces significantly the risk of satellite components hitting the ground after re-entry.

Presentation materials

Separation_Bracket_Qual_ESTEW.pdf