An Inchworm Robotic Assembler for Orbital Construction of a 100-Metre Truss: Joint Energy, Traverse and Schedule Budgets

This paper presents a computed design study, SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED, for a 100 metre backbone truss for antennas, radiators and solar arrays in orbit, using pre-manufactured carbon-composite struts and node fittings launched as a kit. The operating principle is distinct from neighbouring production methods: a two-ended inchworm robot walks along the truss it is building, alternately gripping with each end, placing struts from a carried magazine and driving each joint home, so the structure itself is the robot's railway and no free-flying translation is needed for most operations. Assembly consumes joint-driving and locomotion energy rather than process heat, and the schedule is set by cycle time per bay multiplied across the structure. Sizing follows from budgets computed in the accompanying script rather than from analogy with terrestrial equipment. The headline figures are a specific energy of 0.0373 megajoules per kilogram of product, an installed electrical power of 0.85 kilowatts, a production rate of 82.1 kilograms per hour, and an annual throughput of 6.5e+05 kilograms over 330 operating days. Rejecting 0.468 kilowatts of waste heat at 310 kelvin requires 1.01 square metres of radiator, a photovoltaic supply requires 2.08 square metres of array, and the installed mass is 268 kilograms. Moving feedstock from a 400 kilometre to an 800 kilometre orbit costs 217 metres per second of velocity change. The study is a computed study with no targeting or weapon application; it concerns civilian production equipment only, and none of its figures is a measurement.