Characterization of a wire boom deployment system through testing, analysis, and simulations

Abstract: MEFISTO is a scientic instrument for the measurement of the low frequency electric eld in Mercury'smagnetosphere. It is a double probe electric eld instrument which will y onboard the MMO module of the BepiColombo mission, deploying a 15 m long wire boom in order to place the two probes for themeasurement of the electric eld far enough from the region electrostatically perturbed by the spacecraft.In the same way as any other mechanical system to be sent to space, MEFISTO needs to be deeplyinvestigated and tested in order to maximize the chances of a successful operation, but also to provethat the design requirements are satised. This Master Thesis describes the work carried out for theunderstanding and analysis of the torque dissipation on the mechanism, analyzing dierent features ofMEFISTO aecting its eciency, such as the geometrical accuracy of the dierent components or its tribological characteristics, providing results that have allowed to identify and evaluate the torque sinksof the wire boom system and a more detailed understanding of the behavior of the mechanism.