Towards flight qualification of an additively manufactured nanosatellite component

Fraunhofer EMI is currently designing a 12U nanosatellite. The mission is called ERNST (Experimental Spacecraft based on Nanosatellite Technology) and its main goal is to evaluate the utility of a nanosatellite mission for scientific and military purposes. As spacecraft developments demand the adaption of different subsystems for every mission, Fraunhofer EMI decided to use Additive Manufacturing (AM) in the construction of secondary satellite structures in order to achieve a highly adjusted structure which serves the exact required purpose of each individual mission. The significant advantage of using AM lies in the design freedom as it has almost no design restrictions as compared to conventional manufacturing methods. Given this, the design freedom can be used to implement a numerical optimization process, using topology optimization algorithms. During the optimization process, material is only placed at necessary areas. A Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for the optical mounting structure (optical bench) of the satellite was established, considering vibrational boundary conditions during the launch period and thermal boundary conditions during the operational phase. This paper presents the latest updates towards flight qualification of the optical bench in terms of design, optimization model and post-process concepts.