• Photobioreactor
• soft stowed payload
• structural analysis

The Master’s thesis here developed is the result of a six month internship carried out at Airbus DS GmbH, in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The main topic is the structural analysis and assessment of the Photobioreactor, a soft stowed experiment accommodated into a standard NASA locker, which is intended to be proven on board the International Space Station in 2018. The PBR is a biological life support system which is operated in parallel with the physiochemical one on board. It will produce oxygen by means of the photosynthesis of Algae stored in it. An introduction to the experiment and its scientific objectives is firstly reported. The environmental conditions it will be subjected to are then described, together with the definition of the overall requirements. A detailed description of the developed Finite Element model, performed with MSC Patran, follows and the implemented procedure of the structural analysis, completed with MSC Nastran, is summarized in detail. An optimization campaign, regarding the natural frequency of the structure as well as its stress strength, is performed and all the results of the experiment strength assessment are finally presented.