Subsystem

Structure

The mechanical skeleton of a spacecraft — the load-bearing frame that holds everything together and survives the violence of launch, plus the mechanisms that deploy solar arrays, antennas, and instruments once in space.

Components

Deployable MechanismsComponent
The hinges, booms, and release devices that unfold solar arrays, antennas, and instrument booms after launch — single-use mechanisms that must work the first time.
Primary StructureComponent
The main load-bearing frame of the spacecraft, which carries the launch loads and provides the rigid backbone to which everything else is mounted.

Knowledge connections

ContainsPrimary Structure
ContainsDeployable Mechanisms

Sources

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
ESAEuropean Space Agency
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.

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