Additive Manufacturing applied to Origami Deployment Mechanisms for Small Satellites

小型卫星，特别是立方体卫星，其特点是重量和体积都较小。一方面，这些特性对于降低任务成本至关重要，因为它们大大减少了发射质量；另一方面，它们对关键系统（如太阳能电池板、天线、离轨机构、姿态和轨道系统执行器）的机械设计施加了重大限制，从而限制了卫星的性能。克服这些限制的一种方法是使用折纸技术的可展开机制，这已被证明是优化可用空间使用的最佳解决方案之一。然而，传统的制造并不允许人们充分利用折纸启发结构的能力。该项目将需要使用增材制造作为关键使能技术，开发和制造用于小型卫星的新型折纸式部署机制。该项目的主要挑战与设计方法、所用材料的要求（所采用的材料必须能够承受发射应力并在空间环境中生存）以及所采用解决方案的多功能性有关。所取得的成果将对日益增长的小卫星市场，特别是对未来的立方体卫星任务和应用产生极大的兴趣。

Small satellites, particularly CubeSats, are characterised by reduced weight and size. On the one hand, these characteristics are essential to reducing mission costs, as they significantly reduce the launch mass; on the other hand, they impose significant constraints in the mechanical design of crucial systems (e.g. solar panels, antennas, deorbiting mechanisms, and attitude and orbital system actuators) and thereby limit the performance of the satellite. One way to overcome these constraints is to use deployable mechanisms using origami techniques, which have been demonstrated to be one of the best solutions to optimise the use of the space available. However, traditional manufacturing does not allow one to fully exploit the capabilities of origami-inspired structures.This project would entail the development and fabrication of novel origami-inspired deployment mechanisms for small satellites using additive manufacturing as the key enabling technology. The key challenges of the project are related to the design approach, to the requirements of the materials used (adopted materials must be able to withstand launch stresses and survive within the space environment), and the versatility of the solutions adopted. The results achieved would be of great interest to the growing small satellite market, in particular for future CubeSat missions and applications.