Highly Compact Wrapped-Gore Deployable Reflector

Deployable space structures have long been investigated as a means for packaging the desired solution within the confines of the launch environment. In this study, the design of a highly compact reflector that can be stowed in a 1U CubeSat is addressed. The ideal diameter of the finished reflector is 1 meter. In order to accomplish this objective, a folding method is developed and design constraints are derived from the packaging requirement. A design method is presented in which the deployed shape is divided into gores and flattened for manufacturing. Constraints on the shape of the gores are imposed in order to produce a flat configuration with desirable stowing characteristics. Two iterations of the design are presented with deployed diameters of 0.8 and 0.5m and final stowed diameters of 16 and 14cm respectively.