Mechanical, Thermal Engineering
AKKA contributes to the design and development phases of projects and products, and provides high value-added support in the following fields: studies, calculations, simulations, materials, testing and quality.
Building a spacecraft or a satellite is a structural engineering challenge. Evolving in a context with temperature extremes, these craft also have to cope with the violent force of a rocket launch and a space journey to operate without failure for years.
A successful space product could not be assured without a high level of technology in its structural design, the selection of optimal materials and an efficient ground simulation for preflight validation.
Spacecraft and satellites need to operate reliably in environments that cannot be fully simulated on Earth or modeled analytically for combined mechanical and thermal loads. They also need to be optimized from a weight perspective by employing greater use of advanced composite materials, and to meet strength and longevity requirements through innovative methods.
Mechanical and Thermal engineers work with program and project teams from industry and scientific institutes to evaluate each concept’s overall feasibility in terms of meeting mission requirements within acceptable cost, schedule and performance guidelines. They have to ensure that space structures are sufficiently strong, rigid, thermo-elastically stable and resilient to cope with the space environment.
Working at customer locations and our own facilities, we deliver:
- Structural analyses on satellite or launchers
- Satellite design: layout, structure, CTA, CTP, MLI
- Mechanism, GS or antenna design
- Harness design
- Plan arrangement of payload equipment platforms
- Mechanical analysis: static and dynamic
- Thermal analysis
- Mechanical and thermal testing
Our European Design Engineering Center has more than 500 people on hand.
Our references:
- Ariane
- Space Plane
- MTG
- CSO
- Globalstar
- Neosat