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HexadWeb
Summary
HexadWeb is the future of space missions: a flat, modular, hexagonal grid station for assembling and repairing spacecrafts.It is a modular station, with a hexagonal grid structure which allows an easier displacement of the robotic arms. Robotic arms can move along the grid thanks to a system of rails on both sides of the web. These arms can grab onto satellites, telescopes and other spacecrafts, allowing a great versatility. In the near future, humanity will need to send bigger spacecraft to space, which will make missions more expensive. With the station in orbit, individual parts can be sent to orbit and put together in space, making payloads lighter, and hence allowing bigger missions.
How We Addressed This Challenge
The team developed the idea of a modular hexagonally-shaped spacecraft assembly station, which is composed of truss structures. The station would be in Earth orbit and could re-usable for a vast number of missions. Each modular cell is a hexagon made of a truss structure on each side, on which several robotic arms (like the Canadarm2) would permit the assembly and further construction of spacecraft. The robotic arms are free to move (with an allowable rotation angle of 180 degrees in the perpendicular plane to the module) from one cell to the other by simply rolling on a monorail which can be found on each truss. Each module intersection has an integrated switch (similar to the system used for train rails) in order to facilitate the passage of the robotic arms to the next cell.
The team hopes that this project will allow for a numerous range of possibilities. First, it would allow the assembly of spacecraft in space, which would make it easier to launch and insert into orbit smaller parts that can be assembled into the main body. Second, the station could be placed in an intermediate position (for re-fueling or additional assembling) for future long-distance missions, as for example a lunar orbit for the Mars Project. Finally, the station itself could further its own expansion in an affordable way, as the hexagonal unit modules could be further divided into smaller "Y" shaped units for future missions.
How We Developed This Project
As a team of engineering students we were excited to start working on an assembly solution in space. Nowadays, most space missions have unique assembly solutions. Our approach was to make a reusable platform which can be used for all kind of missions. Based on the idea of a grid platform, we made sketches to explore what kind of grid configurations would be more suitable to make an assembly station. Once the concept was in place, Blender and Autodesk Fusion 360 were used to create a detailed render and animation of our concept of a reusable assembly solution in space. One specific problem we had to solve was how to move the arm between the junctions of the truss grid. To solve this, a monorail with railway-like rotating platform is used to make sure the arm can travel through the whole grid. This station, once an initial module is deployed, can constantly expand, providing more assembly points for different spacecraft and a wide variety of missions whilst maintaining simplicity.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
We used the first 3 of these links and the video as an inspiration for the idea. We used the SLS payload fairing dimensions as a reference of how big our initial modules can be in order to be sent to orbit.