In order to help our team make some big targets, we called in the ‘cavalry’, in the form of composites guru Michael Maxwell. Michael’s many decades of experience in composites led him to his most recent adventure as the head of composites for Spin Launch. There he built both a team and the parts, meeting or beating all deadlines and performance specs for their very successful satellite launch mechanism.
One of the projects we’re working on is modifying the forward bulkhead for the new nose gear. We bonded G10 core on the new hard points. (A hard point is a reinforced area in vehicle structures that is capable of carrying higher loads.) This makes the reinforced area stronger so you can attach other things to it, in this case the nose gear. Here you can see Michael checking a part that has been vacuum bagged for the curing process.
