Satellites - Bus: Connecting Materials

Engineers must design specifically how a satellite will be held together
Glues, polymers, and any biochemical compounds that work well on Earth are known to fail much more quickly in space
Nuts, bolts, and screws must be secure on a satellite
Connecting pieces can be made of many structural materials
Because the total amount of material used as connecting material is small, these materials can be heavier than those used in other places on the satellite
Some examples of durable materials are aluminum, steel, Kevlar, lead, copper, and Teflon
These materials vary in their malleability, which is their ability to be shaped and formed, and their softness
Steel cables often used to hold satellites in place within rockets

Produced by Galactics.
Comments: galactics@spacesim.org.
Last updated on: 8 August 1997.