The Jesse

Last crawled date: 2 years ago

My heliostat design uses origami folds to compact its size and this improves transport stability. The basic shape is hexagonal. The design can be described in three parts which are assembled to be deployed as a single unit. The three parts are:
The Vertical Beam, The Top Pointer, and the Top Panel.

To deploy it, pressurized air is used to expand bellows which form the vertical beam.

The Jesse is packaged in a sleeve prior to deployment to protect it from lunar dust. When deployment occurs, the bellows will expand using pressurized air to a height. Next, solar heating will expand the top panel as the nitinol rods straighten. The Jesse is now deployed.
The vertical beam which holds up the heliostat panel is a connected series of hexagonal bellows (figure 3). Before deployment, it travels as a compact form (figure 4). It can be constructed out of a light metal such as aluminum. The number of hexagonal bellows depends on the size of the top panel it will support. The beam is deployed by releasing pressurized gas through its hollow center. Pairs of hinges are used to brace the bellow and lock at 90 degrees preventing the bellows from collapsing or tilting. Once expanded, it cannot be collapsed again while on the lunar surface.

The Top Pointer
This pointer located at the top of the beam is also a compliant mechanism. A rotating motor will orient the heliostat to the sun. The heliostat can be tilted 90 degrees. The small motor used for tilting is remotely operated. The motors are insulated to protect them from extreme temperatures.

Attribution: 2 DOF fully compliant space pointing mechanism by BYU_CMR Group is licensed under theCreative Commons - Attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3612786

Attribution: BYU Compliant Mechanisms Research Group https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/


The hexagonal-shaped top panel uses origami principles known to NASA. The top panel is expanded by the solar heating of nitinol rods bent during assembly, but straightened during deployment by solar heating.

Solar panels are located in the center of the panel. Before deployment, the panel is protected and stable for transport as it is folded tightly (see figure 6) and covered in a protective sleeve.

NASA can use any suitable material (such as mylar) which can be creased and folded. If needed, an additional layer of material can be added to increase tensile strength.