Design of a mechanism for the deployment and actuation of fins for a recoverable space launcher stage (CALLISTO Project)

The costs linked to space exploration are very high. This is caused by the complex and very performant hardware it requires despite its single usage. Indeed, nowadays, almost every launcher is totally expendable. In order to reduce these costs and hence accelerate space exploration, the first step is to master reusability. To do so, additional hardware is needed among which, aerosurfaces to steer the launcher during descent. These aerosurfaces need to be folded during ascent, deployed around the apogee and then actuated during the descent phase. This work aims at designing the mechanism allowing the deployment of these aerosurfaces and then their actuation when they are in deployed position. The final goal is to have a lightweight system answering specifications given by a partner company with as many commercial off-the-shelve components as possible. This should lower the development time as well as the costs of the overall system. In order to do so, databases and selection procedures were created and an newly imagined deployment system was designed.