David A. Kienholz
CSA Engineering, Inc.
Palo Alto, CA
Paper prepared for Sandia National Laboratories, May 1993
ABSTRACT
Helium-filled balloons are sometimes used as suspension devices to simulate zero-gravity in dynamic testing of space structures. This application note compares the performance of balloons with that of the CSA pneumatic-magnetic suspension devices in terms of mass added to the test article by the suspension. Such added mass degrades the fidelity of the zero-G simulation by changing the normal modes of the payload.