Nasa Solar Panels Origami

Here s a look at two technologies that block starlight to give telescopes a better view of distant earth like planets.

Nasa solar panels origami.

This is what new technology from nasa is trying to do capture the first images of planets outside our solar system and you can make your own model of the spacecraft using origami. The working tabletop prototype of the. Brian trease at nasa s jet propulsion laboratory has been thinking about how it could be used in spacecraft. Both the thumbnail and the footage seen at 1 05 used in this video are from the compliant mechanisms research group cmr at brigham young university.

May 12th 2015 by glenn meyers jet propulsion laboratory researchers have engineered nasa solar panels that are based on the japanese paper folding art origami. Trease and the team created an origami like fold that can transform an 82 foot 25 meter solar panel into a much more manageable 8 9 foot 2 7 m diameter. These panels are light foldable. Their 1 20th scale tabletop prototype expands to a deployed diameter of 4 1 feet 1 25 meters.

Researchers at nasa s jet propulsion laboratory jpl are working on ways to fold up components like solar panels into neat little packages like origami that can then be deployed easily when the. Last year zirbel and trease collaborated with origami expert robert lang and byu professor larry howell to develop a solar array that folds up to be 8 9 feet 2 7 meters in diameter. Origami has been a hot topic in technology recently. Origami expert nasa researchers fold solar arrays for space nasa has joined forces with an origami expert to meld art and technology in the creation of foldable solar structures that could one day.

Brian trease a mechanical engineer at nasa s jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena. Unfold it and you ve got a structure 82 feet 25 meters across.