Vibration Isolation Box Design a system for dampening out the vibrations associated with launch and landing for a box that will fit inside a middeck locker. This box might have experimental equipment or materials. Imagine this box holding strawberries. How do you get the strawberries up there and back home without it being turned into a box of jam?

Requirements The object to be launched may be as massive 15kg with a volume as large as 300mm x 260mm x 190mm. This box should be easy to open and close and lock Allows for decompression of the launch vehicle without expansion Re-useable Flight appropriate materials—not flammable, no off-gassing Can be packed into the vehicle in any orientation

I got a document from NASA that seems like it is the right place but it isn’t very readable and I can’t post it to the internet. I did a google search on “vibrational frequency of rockets during launch” and I found information that seems more satisfying than what I found from NASA. When a rocket first launches, it has the most fuel and mass so the vibrations will have the lowest frequency at launch. As the fuel is used up, the rocket becomes less massive and the frequency of vibration will increase. At some point, the frequency will begin to decrease some due to the lack of fuel sloshing and vibrating in the tanks. tegory/spacex/ Pumps turning on Engine start up Clearing tower Maximum vibration Vibrations tapering off I don’t know

Acceleration during stages Most rockets are composed of 2 or 3 stages where each stage is one or a set of engines turns off, the fuel tank and the engine are jettisoned and then another stage starts when an engine and tank take over pushing the payload to orbit. During the short time between one engine turning off and another turning on there isn’t any vibration or gravity. You can get the sense of some of this from the acceleration graph of the Apollo 15 launch. No vibration or gravity

Middeck Locker This is a Middeck Locker that was originally designed to fit into the middeck of the space shuttle. NASA HUNCH teams are working to build some of these for flight to the station on the newer vehicles. This is the locker design we would like to outfit with some kind of isolation system that would allow a small sensitive payload to fly up in. This payload box should be easy to install into the middeck locker Thoughts for the isolation should include but not limited to: Bungees, springs, foam, rubber bands, magnets (much more difficult due to electro-magnetic fields generated by the magnets), air cushions (beware of expansion due to loss of atmosphere—hole in hull) Could you add or remove some of your isolation system (springs, bungees,…) to account for the mass of the payload? A large payload space is desired so size your isolation system appropriately so the isolators don’t bottom out on the walls of the This could launch and land in nearly any orientation.

Attachment points of locker to structure for launch and landing Back side of middeck locker with rear closeout panels removed. View of inside of locker from the front.

Door of Locker Looking down on top of locker.