An origami array that packs flat into a side pocket and opens into a wing.
One orbit of a 3U CubeSat, 500 km above the Earth.
Two-body orbit with a fixed Sun direction. The orbit is an assumed input, not a mission plan.
Cylindrical Earth shadow, Sun in the orbit plane (β = 0). Array output is zero in shadow.
1361 W/m² × cell area × 0.29 × 0.85, beginning of life, Sun normal to the cells. Output = P₀ · cos θ · cos(incidence).
Scene not to scale: the spacecraft is enlarged; planet sizes and distances are compressed.
A hold-down keeps the array in the pocket, so the CubeSat, not the dispenser, restrains it (CDS Req. 2.2.4).
Deployables wait at least 30 min after ejection (CDS Req. 2.4.4). A launch provider may set its own timing.
Root vertices swing in the face plane while the array grows outward along the face normal. A roller sits at each root vertex; the larger dark one with the white ring is the pivot, and a roller turns red if it would run past the end of the body. The shaded plane on each side face is the 6.5 mm stowed envelope, which turns red when the stack exceeds it.
The root chain keeps a 7 mm zigzag and latches along the face, matching the clamped root of the finite element model.
Same cell, six bodies. Hover a card to swap the model.
Values modelled. The fold study covers the single analysed cell; extra rows lengthen the cantilever beyond it.
Scroll on this panel to step the angle. COMSOL 6.3 shell, fixed root chain. Mode shape schematic, amplitude exaggerated, playback 100× slower.
The first mode at all nine angles: 176 Hz deployed, 323 Hz stowed.
Rises from 227 Hz at 5° to 367 Hz at 80°. The ratio f₂/f₁ peaks at 1.78 at 70°.
Reported to 70°: the matched footprint degenerates near the stowed state.
Every figure carries a label: Simulated Modelled Measured Illustrative
Area 14 551.24 mm² in SolidWorks against 14 551.16 mm² closed form (5.2 ppm).
Frequencies move less than 0.15 % from 4 to 2 mm. The flat reference plate matches Leissa within 0.7 %.
Geometry and finite element results are research outputs; the orbit and imagery are illustrative context. Planets, distances and the spacecraft are not to scale. Earth imagery: NASA Blue Marble and NASA Earth at Night. Star field: Tycho-2 catalogue sky box (CesiumJS, Apache 2.0). Planet maps: James Hastings-Trew. 3D rendering: three.js (MIT).