3-Dimensional Deployable Articulated Boom System

Future DoD spacecraft will require larger and more thermally stable deployable structures than ever before to support these instruments. The structures must be stiff and lightweight and affordable. The deployable structure must be reliable and capable of being fully ground-tested prior to flight to ensure that it will perform as required. In the 3-D Deployable Articulated Boom System (3DABS), Starsys is developing an innovative new technology that will enable Air Force mission planners and instrument designers to provide space-based capabilities critical to the needs of the future warfighter. The 3DABS structure expands both in width, height, and length as it deploys, providing a large area system that is also very structurally deep. The structural system is launched in a compact, well constrained state. On orbit, launch restraints are released and the “Super Battens” unfold laterally and vertically to form the macroscopic structure that is the full footprint of the system. The individual articulated longeron booms deploy in a known kinematic controlled fashion, providing full structural stiffness at every stage of the deployment.