Load carrying lightweight pallet for spacecraft

摘要

A lightweight pallet especially for holding payloads in a spacecraft has a sandwich construction with a core grid of longitudinal carrier beams and cross-connectors mounted between a top flat sheet metal plate and a bottom flat sheet metal plate and a bottom sheet metal plate. A cross-beam is secured to the front end and to the rear end of the pallet. The cross-beams carry journal pins for mounting the pallets to respective yokes in the cargo bay of a spacecraft. The cover plates are provided with cut-outs forming square or rectangular holes with rounded corners. Hole patterns or threaded holes are provided for the connection of junction plates and payloads to the pallet. The junction plates are secured where the longitudinal beams and the cross-connectors meet. At least one of the two laterally outer longitudinal beams has a recess for the recessed mounting of payload supply unit such as a power supply. The recess is then closed again by a plate capable of taking up shear stress. The longitudinal beams and the cross-connectors are essentially hollow except for cross-ribs connecting the chords of the longitudinal beams and cross-trusses in a box frame of the cross-connectors.