scope:

Practice:

The creation of reliable structural laminate composites for space applications requires precision design and manufacturing using an integrated, concurrent engineering approach. Since the final material characteristics are established at the same time the part or subassembly is fabricated, part design, fabrication development, and material characterization must proceed concurrently. Because composite materials are custom-tailored to meet structural requirements of the assembly, stringent inprocess controls are required to arrive at a configuration with optimum physical and material properties.