Boom-Membrane Space Structure’s Incomplete Deployment After Storage in OrigamiSat-1 Ground Demonstrator

Abstract

This study investigates the deployment reliability of multifunctional membrane deployable space structures that can be compactly stored and deployed in a two-dimensional direction using carbon composite booms to realize the construction of thin-film solar arrays and membrane antennas. Herein, two aspects are experimentally clarified using the structural models of a nano-satellite OrigamiSat-1, which is a 1 m-by-1 m square multifunctional deployable membrane structure demonstrator. First, a measurement system is developed to quasi-statically quantify the deployment torque of the structural models that failed to complete deployment after long-term storage and fell into an undesirable equilibrium shape. The measurement results confirm that the deployment torque decreases with long-term storage of the structure, and the torque in the deployment direction becomes negative at the deployment angle of the undesirable equilibrium shape. Therefore, as the second contribution, design modifications are made to the boom and membrane, and quasi-static and dynamic deployment tests are employed to evaluate their effects. The deployment reliability evaluation method and two design updates proposed herein will contribute to future space demonstrations and the utilization of lightweight membrane deployment structures with high packaging efficiency.