SBIR-STTR Award

The proposed innovations are as follows:1) A fully redundant electrical and mechanical motor/cable deployment assembly2) A redundant motor/cable deployment assembly that is integrated and deploys a perimeter truss for a starshadeThe significance and relevance of the proposed innovations is to meet the technical challenges of deploying a large scale perimeter truss (10-30m diameter) for a starshade.The STDT's "Exo-S Final Report" identified an open issue to "Mature perimeter truss technology readiness." This is part of a defined starshade technology gap S-5 that is titled "Demonstrate inner disk deployment with optical shield." In the NASA JPL starshade design the petals are placed into their precise position by the deploying truss. The truss also deploys the spiral wrapped inner disk and at the end tensions the precision spokes. If the truss was not able to fully deploy or meet the on-orbit load (deployment and deployed) and positioning requirements then the mission would fail. Obviously the truss deployment mechanism needs to be a robust and reliable system.

The proposed innovations are as follows: 1) A fully redundant electrical and mechanical motor/cable deployment assembly 2) A redundant motor/cable deployment assembly that is integrated and deploys a perimeter truss for a starshade 3) A truss strut mechanism that allows petal and truss deployment and provides a stiff and repeatable support 4) A truss node light seal the suppressess all sun and starlight through a truss node with articulatinig truss elements and inner disk and petal interfaces. The significance and relevance of the proposed innovations is to meet the technical challenges of deploying a large scale perimeter truss (10-30m diameter) for a starshade. The STDT's "Exo-S Final Report" identified an open issue to "Mature perimeter truss technology readiness." This is part of a defined starshade technology gap S-5 that is titled "Demonstrate inner disk deployment with optical shield." In the NASA JPL starshade design the petals are placed into their precise position by the deploying truss and truss strut. The truss also deploys the spiral wrapped inner disk and at the end tensions the precision spokes. If the truss was not able to fully deploy or meet the on-orbit load (deployment and deployed) and positioning requirements then the mission would fail. Obviously the truss deployment mechanism needs to be a robust and reliable system.