Advanced, Lightweight, Low-Power-Consumption Actuator Brake

An advanced, lightweight, low-power consumption brake has been developed to satisfy NASA's special requirements for use on actuators during spaceflight. This brake can increase the stopping, holding, and parking ability of a spacecraft while reducing its electrical power consumption. Two notable strengths of the design of this brake are modularity and fault tolerance. The use of brakes like this one can be expected to increase performance measures and safety margins in terrestrial as well as outer-space applications.