Design of a pressurized vessel without a sealing liner for research purposes under earthlike athmosphicic conditions in space

Abstract

This paper investigates the development of a separable, pressurized and linerless CFRP vessel (carbon fibre reinforced polymer) for DLR’s Eu:Cropis satellite mis-sion. Due to a biological payload, an internal pressure of one earth atmosphere is required. The Satellite will operate in low earth orbit (LEO) for a mission duration of two years. Special emphasis is set on the pressure-tightness of the whole vessel. Therefore, a shielding concept is neces-sary to avoid leakage after space debris impact. Fur-thermore, the manufacturing process has a significant influence to the permeability of the vessel’s CFRP shell. So, the present paper investigates the novel design of a CFRP pressure vessel without a sealing liner to be used in a space environment as well as its manufacturing and testing.