FLAT-FLOOR FACILITIES IN SUPPORT OF CONFIGURABLE SPACE STRUCTURES DEVELOPMENT

Considering the development of various structures required in current and future space projects like the International Space Station, and lu nar and planetary explorations, the development support of systems per forming relative motion (rendezvous & docking), manipulations (robotic s), assembly operations and inspections, becomes more and more importa nt. Flat-floor facilities are considered tb be very suitable for the p urpose of development and test support of such structures by creating simulated zero-gravity conditions. A feasibility study on specificatio n and design of a reference flat-floor facility has been performed, ba sed on existing technologies. An extensive literature survey revealed the presence of many different types of facilities mainly built for di fferent purposes. Based on these results the application of flat-floor facilities in support of the different phases in the development of s pace constructions has been investigated. This paper focuses on the re sults of the literature survey. In addition, a preliminary design for a reference flat-floor facility is proposed based on the three major c omponents for such a facility: floor construction, bearing constructio n, and support mechanisms. The feasibility of realising the required l ow friction coefficient of airbearings for heavy payloads needs furthe r investigation.