Implementations of the disclosed subject matter provide a system including a truss that may have a plurality of bays. Each bay may include a plurality of longerons disposed in a longitudinal direction, a plurality of battens disposed in a transverse direction, and at least two longitudinal struts that are coupled by hinges that are configured to allow the at least two longitudinal struts to fold towards an interior of each bay of the truss, where at least one batten may connect and separate at least one longitudinal strut. The longitudinal struts, the longerons, and the battens may be connected to form the bay, where each side of the bay may be formed from two battens that are joined end-to-end, and where at least some of plurality of battens respectively separate at least some of the plurality of longerons. The truss may be configured to be stowed longitudinally and transversely.

Implementations of the disclosed subject matter provide a system including a truss that may have a plurality of bays. Each bay may include a plurality of longerons disposed in a longitudinal direction, a plurality of battens disposed in a transverse direction, and at least two longitudinal struts that are coupled by hinges that are configured to allow the at least two longitudinal struts to fold towards an interior of each bay of the truss, where at least one batten may connect and separate at least one longitudinal strut. The longitudinal struts, the longerons, and the battens may be connected to form the bay, where each side of the bay may be formed from two battens that are joined end-to-end, and where at least some of plurality of battens respectively separate at least some of the plurality of longerons. The truss may be configured to be stowed longitudinally and transversely.

Systems and methods for elastically foldable structures are described. The high-strain composite thin-shell structures offer high stiffness to mass ratio and increased packaging efficiency, with the additional advantage that their deployment is aided by releasing the strain energy stored in the elastic folds in a controlled quasistatic manner.

Implementations of the disclosed subject matter provide a system including a truss that may have a plurality of bays. Each bay may include a plurality of longerons disposed in a longitudinal direction, a plurality of battens disposed in a transverse direction, and at least two longitudinal struts that are coupled by hinges that are configured to allow the at least two longitudinal struts to fold towards an interior of each bay of the truss, where at least one batten may connect and separate at least one longitudinal strut. The longitudinal struts, the longerons, and the battens may be connected to form the bay, where each side of the bay may be formed from two battens that are joined end-to-end, and where at least some of plurality of battens respectively separate at least some of the plurality of longerons. The truss may be configured to be stowed longitudinally and transversely.

Technology is disclosed herein for dispensing stacked spacecraft. A stack of spacecraft may be joined together in an accordion configuration by dis-engageable links. A dis-engageable link may join two adjacent spacecraft at one edge of the spacecraft. Some of the links are on one side of the stack with other links on an opposite side of the stack to provide the accordion configuration. After the tie-down mechanism releases the stack of spacecraft from a launch adaptor the stack unfolds. Initially, the dis-engageable links continue to hold the spacecraft together in the accordion configuration with the angle between each pair of adjacent spacecraft increasing. After a pair of adjacent spacecraft have unfolded a sufficient amount to prevent collision, the dis-engageable links release one of the spacecraft to thereby dispense the spacecraft.