Advanced Precision Design of Origami Inspired Deployable Metaoptic LiDAR Aperture

This proposal aims to advance the Foldable Origami-Inspired LiDAR (FOIL) Aperture, a lightweight, deployable optical system designed for high-precision space-based remote sensing and Earth observation missions. The FOIL aperture leverages wafer based meta-optic technology to replace traditional, bulky optical systems, significantly reducing size, weight, and cost while maintaining high optical performance. The proposed Phase II effort will focus on maturing the technology from TRL 3 to TRL 5, validating key engineering aspects such as precision deployment kinematics, hinge reliability, structural stiffness, and optical alignment stability. A critical component of this work involves gravity offload deployment testing and mirror-based optical surrogate evaluations to measure panel alignment distortions. The funding will support design optimization, full-scale prototype fabrication, and deployment testing to ensure readiness for space qualification testing