A trussed collapsible tubular mast includes a deformable beam having an extended state, a flattened state, and a rolled state, where a stiffness and strength of the deformable beam in the extended state is greater than a different stiffness and a different strength of the deformable beam in the flattened state. At least one collapsible tubular mast wall has a plurality of truss members of a first material having a first material thickness. At least one truss member is disposed substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the trussed collapsible tubular mast. Disposed between the truss members is a wall area of a second material thickness less thick than the first material thickness.

Exemplary embodiments provided herein include connection systems in which a gripper is actuated through introduction of a material to an interior cavity. Embodiments may include more than one cavity such that deployment and actuation may be separately controlled. Additional cavities may also be used and/or selection of valves between cavities such that actuation and/or deployment may further be controlled.

Exemplary embodiments provided herein include an attachment and deployment system and method. Exemplary embodiments may use features together or separately as desired. The attachment feature may be used to periodically couple a solar sail.

To provide a sheet-like structure capable of highly accurately estimating a sheet-like shape. A sheet-like structure includes a sheet-like member and a plurality of detection sensors. The sheet-like member extends along an in-plane direction orthogonal to a thickness direction and receives light incident on the sheet-like member. The plurality of detection sensors are dispersedly arranged on the sheet-like member along the in-plane direction and are for detecting an incident angle of the light with respect to the sheet-like member at each arrangement position of the plurality of detection sensors.

Solar collectors can provide power for electricity, thermal propulsion, and material processing (e.g., mining asteroids). In one aspect, an apparatus for collecting solar energy and simultaneously protecting against damage from a resulting energy beam includes a solar energy collection system including at least one concentrator and a target configured to use, store, or convert the solar energy, the collection system configured to cause solar energy to focus on the target, at least one sensor configured to detect misalignment of the concentrator by determining that some or all of the collected solar energy is offset from the target, and a safety system configured to redirect the energy or interpose a safety structure for shielding other non-target systems from receiving too much solar energy from the collection system.

A deformable support apparatus includes a deformable body configured to transition between at least an extended state and a contracted state where a stiffness of the deformable body in the extended state is greater than a corresponding stiffness of the deformable body in the contracted state. The deformable body includes a first member and a second member coupled to and in opposition to the first member, and arranged about a longitudinal axis. In the extended state, the first member has at least a first curved portion and the second member has at least a second curved portion. The at least a first curved portion is a positive curved portion with respect to the longitudinal axis and the at least a second curved portion is a negative curved portion with respect to the longitudinal axis.

Provided is a configuration construction and attitude control method for a pyramid deorbit sail. By taking into consideration environmental perturbation like atmospheric resistance perturbation and non-spherical earth perturbation, a dynamics model featuring three-dimensional orbit-and-attitude coupling based on position vectors and quaternion descriptions, the deorbit sail is taken as a rigid body, a spacecraft body is taken as a mass point, airflow obstruction is considered in the windward area, thereby improving the precision of the dynamics model; based on this model, the law of influence of the configuration parameters in the deorbit sail, such as a cone angle and a strut length, on the attitude stability and deorbiting efficiency of the spacecraft in different cases is analyzed, the configuration parameters of the pyramid deorbit sail system are analyzed and optimized according to the derived law, so as to obtain a pyramid deorbit sail achieving high attitude stability and high deorbiting efficiency.

[Object] To provide a sheet-like structure capable of highly accurately estimating a sheet-like shape.

[Solving Means] A sheet-like structure includes a sheet-like member and a plurality of detection sensors. The sheet-like member extends along an in-plane direction orthogonal to a thickness direction and receives light incident on the sheet-like member. The plurality of detection sensors are dispersedly arranged on the sheet-like member along the in-plane direction and are for detecting an incident angle of the light with respect to the sheet-like member at each arrangement position of the plurality of detection sensors.

Space vehicles with paraglider re-entry, and associated systems and methods are disclosed. A representative system includes a re-useable space vehicle, a collapsible, deployable and re-stowable re-entry heat shield carried by the space vehicle, and a collapsible, deployable and re-stowable flexible paraglider wing also carried by the space vehicle. The space vehicle can accordingly carry out repeated space-based missions, and can be refurbished and replenished on Earth and/or at an orbiting dock between missions.

To provide a sheet-like optical device capable of selectively emitting light whose optical path has a changed orientation. An optical device includes a first sheet and a second sheet. The first sheet is configured to be electrically switchable between a first state in which the first sheet extends along an in-plane direction orthogonal to a thickness direction and has transparency in the thickness direction, and a second state in which the first sheet has lower transparency in the thickness direction than the transparency in the first state. The second sheet has a prism surface on which an inclined surface inclined with respect to the in-plane direction is arranged along the in-plane direction, the second sheet facing the first sheet in the thickness direction.