Research Project

In-Space Nondestructive Evaluation of On-Orbit Manufactured Components and Systems

Abstract

Manufacturing satellites in space could provide a rapid response and great flexibility to mission needs. The structural components of these satellite could be made by printed polymer parts as they do not have to survive (severe) launch loads. Through hybrid additive manufacturing, printed circuits and other pre-made modules, such as solar cells, would be integrated with host structures. However, such structures are susceptible to stress-induced failure due to mismatch in thermal expansion properties and other long-term degradation such as radiation damage. As such, it is of utmost importance for mission success to diagnose structural integrity. Diagnosing could happen through a) in-process monitoring, b) post-assembly verification, and c) lifecycle monitoring. However, no broadly applicable in-space nondestructive evaluation (NDE) solutions exist that are efficient and reliable. Thus, we propose to investigate automated, real-time, data-based methods aligned with goal (1) of the ISAM National Strategy.

We will determine the requirements for and capabilities of an automated in-space inspection system focusing on thermography and ultrasound NDE. The long-term goal of this transformative project is to develop a reliable, automated, cost-effective, in-situ solution for enabling high-quality on-orbit manufacturing.

Research Team

Lead Researchers

Prof. Bingbing Li, Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management
Prof. Christoph Schaal, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Collaborators

NASA JPL: Dr. Douglas Hoffman, Dr. Richard Otis, Dr. Ryan Watkins, Dr. Bryan McEnerney
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Ryan McClelland at Instrument Systems and Technology
UCLA: Dr. Xiaochun Li, Dr. Morris Wang
Honeywell Aerospace: Gregory Colvin, Bob DeMers
Castheon Inc: Dr. Youping Gao, Mr. Steve James
ASTM Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE): Mr. Shane Collins
SimInsights Inc: Mr. Rajesh Jha
El Camino College: Mr. Jose Anaya

Student Team

Dr. Changyu Ma, Postdoc in ARCS at CSUN
Donald Palomino, Fellow, M.S. candidate in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at CSUN
Paula Logozzo, Fellow, undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at CSUN
Elliot Sadler, Fellow, M.S. candidate in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at CSUN
Bodia Borijin, Intern, B.S. candidate in Structural Engineering at UCSD
Andrew Wang, Intern, Portola High School

Funding

Funding Organization: NASA
Funding Program: MUREP Aerospace High-Volume Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management (MUREP High Volume), Grant number: 80NSSC22M0132