MECHANISMS
OVERVIEW
Moog has produced spacecraft motion control products for more than 50 years, dating back to the historic Apollo and Pioneer programs. Today, we offer rotary, linear, and specialized mechanisms for spacecraft motion control needs. Moog is a world-class manufacturer of solar array drives, propulsion positioning gimbals, antenna positioner mechanisms, docking and release mechanisms, and specialty payload positioners.
SOLAR ARRAY DRIVES
There are a variety of solar array drive assembly (SADA) options, for both earth orbit and planetary missions. Some options include Single or dual axis, stepper or Brushless DC, Slip Ring, Twist Capsule or Cable Management, and Resolver, Potentiometer or Feedback options.
PROPULSION POSITIONING GIMBALS
Moog offers thruster gimbal assemblies that range in size from small to large, and in return, are intended to point various sized engines. The gimbals can be configured for wide rotation on both axes, limited with the inclusion of range defining hard stops on the thruster axes. The gimbals provide vector-pointing capabilities for various propulsion thruster configurations including Xenon, Arc-jet and NTO/MMH.
ANTENNA POSITIONING
The wide variety of antenna positioner assemblies are compact, two-axis gimbals which are ideal for supporting and positioning small, medium, and large-sized spacecraft communications antennas. Gimbals can be configured with either elevation over azimuth (shown right) or X-Z (crossed axes, shown below). Several approaches to electrical cable management ranging from cable drums, twist capsules and slip ring assemblies are available.
PAYLOAD GIMBALS
The biaxial gimbal supports and positions the majority of larger payloads and can be configured for limited rotation with the inclusion of range-defining hard stops on actuator outputs. For position sensing and feedback, potentiometers, encoders and resolvers can be integrated.
