Patent ID: 9555904
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: B64G

Claim:
1. A system for increasing the surface area of a spacecraft comprising: a deployable gossamer apparatus comprising: a central mount portion, a plurality of rib members extending from a proximal end portion to a distal end portion, wherein the proximal end portion of each rib member of the plurality of rib members is rotatably coupled to the central mount portion about a coupling axis to provide rotation of each rib member about the coupling axis to extend outside of a storage plane to deploy the deployable gossamer apparatus, wherein each rib member of the plurality of rib members is biased to extend along a linear rib axis to deploy the deployable gossamer apparatus, wherein each rib member is configurable in at least a linear configuration and a nonlinear configuration, wherein each rib member extends along the linear rib axis when in the linear configuration, and wherein each rib member extends nonlinearly when in the nonlinear configuration, and gossamer material coupled to and extending between at least two of the plurality of rib members, wherein the deployable gossamer apparatus is configurable in at least a stowed configuration and a deployed configuration, wherein the plurality of rib members are wrapped around the central mount portion when in the stowed configuration, wherein the plurality of rib members are positioned to provide a surface area greater than the spacecraft when in the deployed configuration, wherein the central mount portion is stationary while the plurality of rib members are unwrapped from the central mount portion when transitioning from the stowed configured to the deployed configuration; and storage apparatus couplable to the spacecraft and configurable in a storage configuration and a released configuration, wherein the storage apparatus is configured to restrict deployment of the deployable gossamer apparatus from the stowed configuration to the deployed configuration when in the storage configuration, wherein the storage apparatus is configured to allow deployment of the deployable gossamer apparatus from the stowed configuration to the deployed configuration without providing energy to the deployable gossamer apparatus for deployment when in the released configuration wherein the storage apparatus comprises one or more wall portions to maintain the deployable gossamer apparatus in the stowed configuration wherein the plurality of rib members move the storage apparatus from the storage configuration to the deployed configuration when the plurality of rib members are transitioning from the stowed configuration to the deployed configuration.