50kW Pneumatic Modular Solar Array STAC Mast

NASA developed a state-of-the-art scalable conceptual design of a high-performance 60kW/m3 deployable solar array with very low mass, compact stowage, and reliable deployment. The Compact Telescoping Array (CTA) consists of a slender telescoping mast that supports a large area flexible photovoltaic array that can be deployed vertically on the lunar surface. Moonprint will augment the CTA concept with new pneumatic telescoping mast technology and quick disconnect nodes between mast elements, to create a modular structures technology that can be configured multiple ways prior to flight, or repurposed on the lunar surface. The modular mast technology to be developed in this program is a new class of structures apart from deployable mast technologies in use and under development. The pneumatic telescoping mast technology, or Sequential Tip-Additive Construction (STAC), is “assembled” from the top of the mast rather than being pushed up from its base. Therefore, structural stiffness is realized during deployment and can be augmented with guys to generate extremely tall, slender towers. The nodes facilitate vertical stacking of structural elements or deployment in other directions such as in the case of outriggers. The pneumatic STAC elements and nodes can be combined to create solar array deployment and support structures, mast additions on top of solar arrays for communications relays, or as extremely tall towers for a range of purposes that require significant line of sight.