Lotus: Testing origami-inspired structures in microgravity

Many space technologies are enabled by deployable mechanisms or structures to function: solar panels, radiators, and even crewed stations and rovers subsystems need to be stowed and deployed to fit in a launcher fairing and avoid unwanted vibrations during launch. Among those structures, the deployment of large membranes and panels can be designed with the help of an unexpected technique: origami folding. The idea has been spreading in every field of engineering in the past few years; compact, rigid-folded structures that can change shape in one simple motion fascinate micro-robotics as well as aerospace engineers. Origami-inspired structures can be engineered to answer many needs. The available launch volume can be optimized, creases can improve the rigidity of a structure while keeping it lightweight, thickness can be accounted for, and complex surfaces can be approximated by flat-foldable mechanisms. Several major space actors, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), have already implemented such techniques successfully or plan to do so in the near future. Following these breakthroughs, student project “Lotus” was submitted to the Parabole 2022 contest, an opportunity to test student projects in microgravity during a parabolic flight campaign organized by the French Space Agency and its subsidiary Novespace. The 5-members international student team will characterize and analyse the deployment and folding of innovative origami structure models for current and future space applications, especially volumes for deployable habitats, fuel tanks, or other resource containers such as asteroids and regolith; three stereo cameras will capture the geometry at different set speeds. To maximize the scientific return, several shapes and geometric parameters will be tested: three distinct structures are proposed to be tested, mostly limited by the volume available for the experiment. The models tested will be as similar as possible to their full-size counterparts, being made of space-grade polyimide, and their dynamics will be assessed in near-0g conditions to have a deployment environment that is as accurate as possible. These results will be compared with on-ground experiments with a similar experimental setup.