Flexible Hypervelocity Impact Shield by Dragon Skin Bumper and Hybrid Fabric Rear Wall

Abstract

Launching a manned spacious space structure at once is advantageous in the manner of cost, and application. However, it is challenging to launch a large structure in space mainly due to limited size of a launch vehicle and high protection requirement against hazardous space environment. Using a flexible and inflatable structure in space can be a possible solution for size limitation. To protect flexible and inflatable space structure against hypervelocity impact of Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (M/OD), Multi-shock shield has been developed. The efficiency of the shield, however, quite to be skeptical because of the design without dense and metallic bumpers. In the study, hypervelocity impact tests on the new flexible space shield which consists of the Dragon skin bumper and STF impregnated fabric rear wall were conducted at 3.6 - 4.0 km/s. Compared with aluminum control specimens under identical impact conditions, the proposed shield shows superior performance.