Structural qualification of large spacecraft

Over the past twenty-five (25) years of the space program, the major challenge in the structural qualification of the primary structure has shifted from conducting a test that simulated the environment to accurately predicting the structural member loads in flight. Once the flight loads are avaliable, a number of different test methods are used to qualify the structure by subjecting it to the proper loads. The qualification challenge for future large spacecraft will be to adequately predict its dynamic characteristic in space to assure that it can be controlled to meet the mission objectives. A new test concept that may allow acquisition of modal data by ground tests for verification of mathematical models of large flexible space structures which can't be ground tested by conventional methods is discussed.