Deployable Booms and Antennas Using Bi-stable Tape-springs

Utilizing the orthotropic properties of composite materials, tape-spring structural elements can be made that exhibit the unique behavior known as bi-stability. Tape-springs with this behavior display a controlled and deterministic deployment path of simply unrolling once initiated; they do not bloom. Deployable booms and multi-element antennas have been conceptualized based on these tape-springs and are reported on within. Both inventions occupy approximately ¼U of a CubeSat volume (50 x 50 x100 mm) when packaged and self-deploy to lengths of several meters. The boom concept employs four tape-springs arranged so that the boom tips separate linearly (without any rotations). It is intended to be used as a gravity gradient stabilization boom, camera boom or sensor boom. A damper element can be used to control deployment rate. The antenna concept uses multiple elements in a log periodic configuration and is deployed without rate control