Design of a membrane aperture deployable structure

Ultra-lightweight, membrane primary mirrors ofier a promising future for space telescope technology. However, the advantages of the lightweight structure of the mirrors are restricted by an extremely high susceptibility to microyield. Hence, careful packaging of the membranes is required when transporting mirrors of this type into space. Four packaging models, a cylindrical roll, an umbrella model, a multi-cut model and a single cut model, are presented and compared with each other. Factors such as curvature of the compressed membrane, stability after deployment, and the size of the launch vehicle are considered. All four packaging models appear to be feasible with certain materials and hence warrant physical testing.