esmats:european space mechanisms and tribology symposium

ESMATS is a bi-annual event held on alternate years in collaboration with its sister event in the USA - The Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium - the European Space Mechanisms and Tribology Symposium, ESMATS, regularly attracts around 200 space mechanism designers and engineers, space scientists and satellite project and programme managers from around the world. The first ESMATS was held in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1983 and since then has been hosted in a variety of European countries under the sponsorship of ESA (European Space Agency) and some of the major European satellite and space companies. Each symposium includes a full copy of the presented papers on CD.

The aims of the ESMATS symposium are:

To foster a dialogue between space mechanism engineers on the design, development, testing, production and in-flight experience of spacecraft and payload mechanisms
To encourage personal contacts in the mechanisms and tribology community
To provide a networking opportunity for small and medium sized companies and for the transfer of technology to and from space applications
To promote awareness that space opportunities afford sustainable industrial growth

esmats:past papers

esmats:past papers is a full text searchable index of the papers presented at:

8th ESMATS: Toulouse, France (1999) (Complete list of ESMATS 1999 papers)
9th ESMATS: Liege, Begium (2001) (Complete list of ESMATS 2001 papers)
10th ESMATS: San Sebastian, Spain (2003) (Complete list of ESMATS 2003 papers)
11th ESMATS: Lucerne, Switzerland (2005) (Complete list of ESMATS 2005 papers)
12th ESMATS: Liverpool, United Kingdom (2007) (Complete list of ESMATS 2007 papers)
13th ESMATS: Vienna, Austria (2009) (Complete list of ESMATS 2009 papers)
14th ESMATS: Constance, Germany (2011) (Complete list of ESMATS 2011 papers)
15th ESMATS: Noordwijk, The Netherlands (2013) (Complete list of ESMATS 2013 papers)
16th ESMATS: Bilbao, Spain (2015) (Complete list of ESMATS 2015 papers)
17th ESMATS: Hatfield, United Kingdom (2017) (Complete list of ESMATS 2017 papers)
18th ESMATS: Munich, Germany (2019) (Complete list of ESMATS 2019 papers)
19th ESMATS: Online, WWW (2021) (Complete list of ESMATS 2021 papers)

Most Viewed: Click to see most viewed papers

The papers are stored in pdf form and are free to download.

Topics covered by the symposium are:

Space Mechanisms
Miniaturisation
Tribology
Science Instruments
In-flight Experiences and Lessons Learned
Deployment Mechanisms and Actuators
Launch Vehicle Mechanisms
Special Functions
Mechanism Test Programmes
Instrumentation
Lubrication
Tribology
Long life space mechanisms
Single shot space mechanisms
Low shock release devices

Past papers have covered Mechanisms such as:

Solar Array Drive Mechanisms (SADM)
Antenna Pointing Mechanisms (APM)
Reaction Wheels
Momentum Wheels
Pyrotechnic Release Devices
Non-pyrotechnic Release Devices
Boom Deployment Mechanisms
Dampers
Antenna Deployment Mechanisms (ADM)
Antenna Deployment and Trimming Mechanisms (ADTM)
Spring Ejection System
Spin-up Ejection Devices and Mechanisms (SUEM)
Clamp Bands
Filter Wheels
Actuators
Piezo Electric Motors
etc.. etc..

These papers contain a wealth of information and experience relating to the topic of space mechanisms and offer any designer of equipment in this field the opportunity to benefit from the shared knowledge.

*Copyright Notice*

The Proceedings of ESMATS are ESA copyright; but the content of the papers are the property of the original authors. Third-parties are allowed to download the papers but are responsible for contacting the individual authors and obtaining separate permission to use images or graphs from the papers.

Extracts may be used in other publications provided they are properly cited and the author(s) of the paper or papers acknowledged as the originators of the work.

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