Spacecraft Internal Vibration Response Accelerations System Level Versus Component Level

The purpose of this study was to compare vibration damage potential with damage potential during the spacecraft level acoustic exposure. A spacecraft simulator and the instrumented component were exposed to a typical spacecraft level acoustic environment. The panel response data were then enveloped to define a random vibration environment, which was subsequently applied to the same component, hard-mounted to an electrodynamic shaker. A comparison of the internal responses obtained during the acoustic test with those of the vibration test determined that the vibration test generally had accelerations approximately five times those of the acoustic test.