Deployable Composite Booms for Various Gossamer Space Structures

Abstract

Deployable structures are required to either enable orbit transfer of very large structure or to make the orbit transfer of medium and small size structures more affordable. Hereby, deployable booms are basic building blocks of such deployable structures. DLR is providing a concept for deployable booms that utilize very thin CFRP material and which can be stowed by coiling.

The given paper introduces the concept of the CFRP booms and discusses the problems of their self deployment tendency. Furthermore, different mechanisms are presented that are able to control the deployment. Tests under artificial zero-g environment have been conducted to verify the applicability of the control concepts. Hence, the paper also gives insight in objectives, setup and the results of the experiment as well as a final evaluation of the concepts. Finally, an outlook on current and future projects that use the introduced booms or equivalent systems is given.