Dragonfly Aerospace, a leading NewSpace developer of compact, high-performance imaging satellites and payloads, is investing in a 3000 square metre design and manufacturing facility in Techno Park, Stellenbosch.
This facility will catapult Dragonfly to the forefront of microsatellite constellation production, with enough cleanroom area for satellite and imager assembly and testing. It forms part of Dragonfly’s preparation for serial production of imaging satellites and payloads, intending to deliver up to 48 imaging satellites per year.
To optimise their production workflow, Dragonfly is expanding its in-house environmental test equipment with an electrodynamic shaker system that will be used to simulate launch and flight vibration. TANDM, a test, measurement and automation solutions partner, supplied and installed a Brüel & Kjaer LDS V8900 electrodynamic shaker with a hydrostatic-bearing slip table. Shaker control will be achieved with the Crystal Instruments Spider 81, a premium vibration controller suited for random, sine, RSTD (resonance search, track & dwell), shock and TTH (transient time history) control. This adds the potential to conduct development and certification based on launch vibration specifications, shortens the development cycle and enables Dragonfly to deliver certified products to market.
“The B&K; V8900 shaker from TANDM is a key piece of equipment for our production process,” concludes Dragonfly Aerospace CEO, Bryan Dean. “Even with the smoothest launch vehicle, the trip to space is still a pretty wild ride and we need to make sure our systems are still in perfect condition when they get where they are going.”
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