Patent ID: 11958638
Assignee: SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 12:
13. A spacecraft assembly, comprising:
a chassis;
a solar array blanket portion moveable relative to the chassis from a stowed configuration into a deployed configuration;
an extendable frame coupled to the chassis and the blanket portion and moveable from at least a collapsed configuration into an extended configuration to move the solar array blanket portion from the stowed configuration into the deployed configuration, wherein the extendable frame includes at least first and second support arms;
at least one biasing member having a first end coupled to the first support arm and a second end coupled to the second support arm, the first biasing member extending across an exterior portion of a first hinge assembly that is configured to bias at least a portion of the extendable frame into the deployed configuration; and
a stop assembly having a bracket configured to substantially prevent the first and second support arms from moving into an inverted configuration past a substantially horizontal configuration relative to the spacecraft.