MIR STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS EXPERIMENT: A FLIGHT EXPERIMENT DEVELOPMENT

This paper describes efforts in the development of a flight experiment, Mir Structural Dynamics Experiment (MiSDE), which will measure vibrational responses and characterize dynamic behavior of the Russian Mir Space Station and U.S. Space Shuttle. The MiSDE will record structural responses and input forces from docking, jet firings, crew activities, and quiet periods using a combination of existing instrumentation and new MiSDE instrumentation, the Mir Auxiliary Sensor Unit (MASU). The MASU processes signals from nineteen accelerometers and stores the processed data on small removable hard disks. This data will be processed to calculate modal parameters which will be compared to the pre-flight analysis results, ground test results, or previous flight test results. The experiment data and analysis results will benefit the design and operation of the International Space Station by providing critical information for the verification of analytical models and structural loads. The paper discusses experiment design, hardware design, preliminary analysis, and payload integration for the MiSDE.