Advanced self-deployable structures for space applications

Cold-hibernated elastic memory structures technology is one of the most recent results of the quest for simple, reliable, and low-cost self-deployable structures. The cold-hibernated elastic memory technology uses shape-memory polymers in open-cell foam structures or sandwich structures made of shape-memory-polymer foam cores and polymeric laminated-composite skins. It takes advantage of a polymer's shape memory and the corresponding internal elastic recovery forces to self-deploy a compacted structure. This paper describes these structures and their major advantages over other expandable and deployable structures presently used. Previous experimental and analytical results indicate that the cold-hibernated elastic memory foam technology can perform robustly in the Earth's environment as well as in space. Further improvements in cold-hibernated elastic memory technology that can widen potential space applications, including advanced solar-sail structural concepts, are revealed and described.