Final Assembly, Testing and Processing of the Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment (RIGEX) for Spaceflight Qualification

The purpose of this research is to complete the building, testing, verification, and qualification of the Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment (RIGEX) for spaceflight. The process of qualifying a payload for spaceflight is discussed, specifically addressing the issues of operability and survivability verification of a general payload. The spaceflight qualification process is then applied to the RIGEX payload at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) and at the Johnson Spaceflight Center (JSC) in Houston, TX, capstoning the work of 12 masters students and 3 summer interns that has already gone into the RIGEX project over the last 7 years. The culmination of this effort is the necessary documentation required to turn the RIGEX payload over to the National Air and Space Association (NASA) in preparation for its launch in February 2008.