LARGE LIGHTWEIGHT DEPLOYABLE STRUCTURES FOR PLANETARY DEFENCE: SOLAR SAIL PROPULSION, SOLAR CONCENTRATOR PAYLOADS, LARGE-SCALE PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER

The paper at hand provides an overview of the gossamer solar sail technology developed by DLR since the 1990s. Boom and foil structures, including deployment mechanisms, with a focus on solar sail applications were developed. The technology was subject to extensive on ground qualification testing. The qualification included vibration testing, fast decompression, centrifuge tests and laboratory deployment. In addition metalized films were subject to degradation testing employing DLR’s complex irradiation facility