Fastener for Telerobotic and Manual Servicing of Small and Medium-Sized Payloads

Presently, many small and medium sized payload modules are secured in place with #10 screws. Unfortunately, these screws cross thread easily and require epoxy to survive launch, rendering small and medium payloads as non-candidates for on-orbit servicing. An innovative fastener for payloads is proposed, as an alternative to #10 screws, to facilitate telerobotic & EVA astronaut on-orbit servicing. The proposed fastener is tolerant of initial misalignments yet cannot crossthread; also no lock down epoxy is required to survive the launch environment. The objectives of the research are to confirm the predicated performance of the innovation, determine the practical feasibility of the fastener and to investigate the space qualification potential of the innovation. The proposed effort is to design and fabricate, working prototypes of the proposed fastener and to fabricate and test a comprehensive breadboard version of a small payload module for testing robotic and manual change-out of said module. The offerer expects the Phase I effort will lead to the production of the proposed fastener which in turn will foster the development and production of serviceable small and medium payload modules. The fastener development will also hasten the introduction of a comprehensive "fastening" strategy for telerobotic and EVA on-orbit servicing.