Mechanical challenges in advanced spacecraft development

Space engineering research and developments in mechanics are closely related, and often serve to promote each other. Analysis of the engineering difficulties in advanced spacecraft development and the related mechanical challenges shows that it is very important to overcome the main mechanical problems to enable rapid development of aerospace engineering technologies. When compared with classical spacecraft, a series of new concepts and technologies have been proposed to satisfy the requirements of advanced spacecraft development. These advanced spacecraft, which must overcome the severe effects of the complex launching and space running environments, result in challenging problems of applications in fields such as structural dynamics and computational mechanics. In this paper, a heavy-lift launch vehicle, a large complex spacecraft, a reusable launch vehicle and a hypersonic flight vehicle are introduced as four typical advanced spacecraft to illustrate the reactive relationships between the engineering and mechanical disciplines. Based on descriptions of their technical features, the research difficulties related to these advanced spacecraft are shown. Then, ten typical challenging problems are summarized into research topics in the four classical mechanical subject fields. Two challenging problems of a mechanical nature are shown in each of the three classical mechanics fields of dynamics and control, solid mechanics and aerodynamics. When compared with the engineering problems in a single mechanics discipline, it becomes obvious that research into interdisciplinary mechanical problems is becoming a major trend for advanced spacecraft. To promote concurrent development of advanced spacecraft and the appropriate mechanical disciplines, the following two proposals are made: (1) The close relationships between the engineering requirements and the mechanical disciplines should be given greater attention. The research efforts for advanced spacecraft can be supported by mechanical theory to enable new technological challenges to be overcome. (2) The coalescent development of advanced spacecraft with the disciplines of fundamental mechanics can be guaranteed through joint innovation and development efforts between technical personnel and mechanical researchers, both in China and abroad.