Payload (air and Space Craft) - Payload Constraints

Payload Constraints

Launch and transport system differ not only on the payload that can be carried but also in the stresses and other factors placed on the payload. The payload must not only be lifted to its target, it must also arrive safely, whether elsewhere on the surface of the Earth or a specific orbit. To ensure this the payload, such as a warhead or satellite, is designed to withstand certain amounts of various types of "punishment" on the way to its destination. The various constraints placed on the launch system can be roughly categorized into those that cause physical damage to the payload and those that can damage its electronic or chemical makeup.

Examples of physical damage include extreme accelerations over short time scales caused by atmospheric buffeting or oscillations, extreme accelerations over longer time scales caused by rocket thrust and gravity, and sudden changes in the magnitude or direction of the acceleration caused by how quick engines are throttled and shut down, etc. Damage to electrical or chemical/biological payloads can be sustained through things such as extreme temperatures (hot or cold), rapid changes in temperature, rapid pressure changes, contact with fast moving air streams causing ionization, and radiation exposure from cosmic rays, the Van-Allen Belts, solar wind, etc.