Design for main support of long focal length space camera

Abstract

In order to improve the stiffness and reduce the weight of the main support structure of space camera, some problems in the truss design were taken into account in this paper. A 4-layer multi-truss made of carbon fiber composite was used in the main support structure for designing a kind of space camera with 7m focal length, relative aperture 1:6. The angles between trusses, pole cross section and pole connector were designed in detailed. A finite element analysis method is employmented to analyzed the structural characteristic of the main support structure, which materials include M40 carbon fiber composite materials, SiC/A and TC4 etc. The results of analysis indicates that the weight of the main truss support structure is only 318 kilograms weight, 80 Hz for the first-order natural frequency, which can meet the requirements of the space camera specifications.