Storability of Space Deployable Textile Membrane Structures with Flexible Electrical Circuits

Abstract

  The space solar power systems require large surfaces in space, therefore they should be stored in small volumes during the launch phase and be deployed on orbits. Thus, the improvement of the power to volume ratio is important. This paper proposes space deployable “textile” membrane structures with the flasher folding pattern, to achieve high storage efficiency. This structure consists of a textile membrane, flexible boards, and thin-film solar cells. This study provides some solutions that satisfies the mechanical and electrical design issues related to the storage of the integrated structures, and verify the effectiveness by prototyping.