Technology developed during this SBIR program will be directly applied to any NASA telescope program involved with exoplanet discovery and characterization that needs an external occulter, or Starshade. NASA has identified a potential rendezvous mission with WFIRST/AFTA because it is a large astrophysics telescope capable of supporting direct imaging with a starshade. Beyond starshades, the technology developed through this SBIR would apply to any cable driven deployment that would benefit from the reliability of a fully redundant electrical and mechanical system. Cable spoolers are used for deploying articulating booms, trusses, thermal blankets, solar arrays as well as deploying and controlling guys and stays.
Large scale deployable perimeter trusses could also be used for large solar arrays for SEP applications or planetary surface operations that would need a robust architecture that can withstand high accelerations. In addition, the technology developed through this SBIR would apply to any cable driven deployment that would benefit from the reliability of a fully redundant electrical and mechanical system. Cable spoolers are used for deploying articulating booms, trusses, thermal blankets, solar arrays as well as deploying and controlling guys and stays.
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