Super Precision Integral Folding Hinge Structure

Future, large aperture observation spacecraft will require large mirrors and structures to be deployed with optical precision. Current technologies require complex drive, joint and latch mechanisms that have intricate contact mechanics that make the structures less accurate and difficult to analyze. Operational experience and laboratory testing have shown the mechanisms cause sudden changes in shape that make deployed optics inaccurate and difficult to control.The proposed innovation is a continuously braided structure in which the folding joints that allow for stowing and deployment are integral to the structure. By utilizing unique braiding techniques to form locking joints from the same composite fibers that comprise the truss tubes, the truss deploys to form a rigid structure with no moving parts. Since ther are only flexing parts, the structure has no contact interfaces that can produce nonlinear dynamics. Since the structure is braided from continuous fibers, electrical and optical conductors can be bonded within the fibers; eliminating the nonlinear contribution of traditional cable bundles.the monolithic structure will have nanometer deployment repeatability and stability. The proposed innovative structural concept will enable the deployment of large aperture optical instruments and structures at a greatly reduced cost; power and launch mass.