RESHETNEV grows opportunities for satellite conveyed assembly
The satellite assembly conveyor line was upgraded at RESHETNEV company upon ROSCOSMOS State Corporation order.
The assembly line designed at RESHETNEV company (under ROSCOSMOS State Corporation umbrella) had been refined for serial assembly of satellites under 300 kg and their components.
Life tests of the assembly line have been carried out at RESHETNEV. At this stage, joint movement of the satellite cargo model and a small satellite model below 100 kg (its weight, together with the equipment, is over 300 kg) on the conveyor was tested. There were over 200 test cycles performed.
Evgeniy Nesterov, RESHETNEV company General Director, highlighted, “We have approved a production line that will allow our customers to order assembly services for larger dimension satellites. The range of RESHETNEV products is expanding today, therefore opening up opportunities for external customers to implement their tasks of creating sufficiently wide-range orbital constellations. It will be possible to manufacture communication, monitoring, and broadband access satellites on the line. This can be an assembly of the device from two parts – the payload and the platform, as well as large assemblies, assembly units, electronic modules, and individual components. After integration, the product will undergo the entire test cycle. We also offer assistance in creating similar production lines to other satellite manufacturing companies”.
The conveyor line is an automated and robotic complex of 19 workstations. It has a special feature – the so-called “superstructure” – the upper floor with a suspended instrument and zero gravity systems for satellite components.
The series of operations includes honeycomb panels driving up and positioning, platforms and payload modules assembly, overall post integration satellite assembly.
The company's specialists ensured high repeatability of the production cycle using proprietary software and hardware complex.
Product compliance with international quality standards is achieved through the use of integrated automated control systems, such as smart tools, machine vision, and visualization of the manufacturing process. These technologies are also being implemented in on-board solar arrays and executive automation units manufacturing.
The project on the organization of serial assembly production is aimed at solving the task of reducing the time required to produce a satellite and increase labor productivity, set by the ROSCOSMOS State Corporation. This will enable rapidly forming multi-satellite constellations and providing high-quality satellite services to users Russia-wide.
“At the moment, RESHETNEV has a production system that allows to assemble any satellite up to 300 kg. For that purpose, a specialized production team has been formed: assembly fitters, engineers, technologists, foremen, site managers - all the specialists who are needed to fully complete the space platforms serial assembly cycle in a dedicated site. This allows us to present a very relevant service on the market. Our customers do not need to expand their production. We have standardized the assembly, testing, and logistics processes, so today we offer custom spacecraft assembly.” – Evgeniy Nesterov concluded.
