An Overview of the NASA Advanced Composite Solar Sail (ACS3) Technology Demonstration Project
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solar sails↗
Engineering topics
Gregory D. Dean
Publications and source records attributed to Gregory D. Dean.
Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3): Mechanisms and Lessons Learned from a CubeSat Solar Sail Deployer
This is an overview of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) technology demonstration project mechanisms, their development, the testing they underwent, as well as the lessons learned in those activities. This overview includes an overall description of the primary deployment mechanisms and ground support equipment (GSE) needed for packaging the solar sail system.
Mechanisms↗
Experimental Setup for Mechanically Testing Subscale Triangular, Rollable, and Collapsible Deployable Composite Booms
High-strain composite deployable space structures are used for space infrastructure and science applications such as solar array supports, antennae, camera masts, and lightweight structures supporting solar sailing propulsion ele-ments. Triangular, Rollable, and Collapsible (TRAC) deployable composite booms are one example of a high-strain composite deployable structure and were studied using novel experimental test and characterization methods developed under the Gravity Offloading and Analysis of Long Imperfection-sensitive Ele-ments (GOALIE) project. In the present work, a subscale 7-m-long TRAC boom was suspended vertically to orient gravity along the length of the boom. By ori-enting vertically, highly nonlinear and unstable behavior often encountered dur-ing horizontally oriented gravity offload testing of similar structures was reduced. Pretest analytical predictions of TRAC booms indicated three unique failure modes, loads, and locations for three unique loading cases of in-plane bending, out-of-plane bending, and axial compression. To investigate the predicted behav-ior, an experimental test was set up to impart mechanical loads to a subscale TRAC boom. The experimental setup, loading cases, and instrumentation used to characterize the mechanical response of a subscale TRAC boom are described in this paper.
High-strain composites↗