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
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- 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.