This book describes how to develop spacecraft structures and mechanisms, from requirements to ensuring mechanical readiness for launch. The contents cover material selection, spacecraft configuration, mechanism design, and quality assurance. The book addresses its goal of helping people on space programs develop mechanical systems that work at the lowest total cost by presenting the big picture of developing high-quality mechanical products while also providing enough detail to define requirements, establish preliminary designs, develop verification plans, plan tests, and document compliance with requirements.

The book is organized in six parts:

• Introduction (Chap. 1) - Provides an overview of developing structures and mechanisms, defines terms, and directs the reader to other chapters
• Requirements (Chaps. 2 and 3) - Describes how to identify and develop requirements; describes life-cycle environments
• Analysis (Chaps.4-10) - Provides tutorials and methods for statics, dynamics and loads analysis, mechanics of materials,strength analysis, structural-life analysis, and thermal analysis
• Verification and Quality Assurance (Chaps. 11-13) - Explains and shows how to become confident in your designs and products through analyses, inspections, and tests, as well as how to control materials, parts, manufacturing processes, and the spacecraft's configuration
• Design (Chaps. 14-20) - Describes and exemplifies how to configure a spacecraft, develop preliminary designs of structures, develop and control finite-element models, design structures to control loads and vibrations, iteratively predict and assess structural loads, develop reliable and cost-effective mechanisms, and design for producibility
• Final Verification (Chap. 21) - Describes the final steps in ensuring the spacecraft is mechanically ready for launch

This book is the result of nearly four years of effort by 24 authors (space-industry engineers, mostly from Martin Marietta Astronautics) and more than 30 contributing editors, administrative assistants, and reviewers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1 -- INTRODUCTION

1. Developing Spacecraft Structures and Mechanisms
   
   PART 2 -- REQUIREMENTS
   
2. Developing Mechanical Requirements and Conceptual Designs
3. Space Mission Environments
   
   PART 3 -- ANALYSIS
   
4. Structural Mechanics
5. Loads Analysis for Single-Degree-of-Freedom Systems
6. Mechanics of Materials
7. Flexible-Body Dynamics
8. Strength Analysis
9. Structural Life Analysis
10. Thermal Effects
    
    PART 4 -- VERIFICATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
    
11. Developing Confidence in Mechanical Designs and Products
12. Verification Criteria
13. Ensuring Quality
    
    PART 5 -- DESIGN
    
14. Configuring a Spacecraft
15. Conceptual Design of Structures
16. Idealizing and Modeling Structures
17. Controlling Structural Responses
18. Design Loads Cycles
19. Developing Mechanisms
    
    PART 6 -- FINAL VERIFICATION
    
20. Designing for Producibility
21. Final Verification