Horus: An Origami-Unfolding Solar Array For Autonomous Deployment on Mars

Abstract

This collaborative thesis was undertaken as a response to the NASA BIG (Break-through, Innovative, Game-Changing) Idea Challenge, 2018. The premise of the competition was to design a compact and lightweight solar array that could be stored in a rocket payload bay, launched to and land on Mars, and deployed autonomously to cover a minimum of 1,000m2 surface area and generate on average 40 kW of constant power output. Our proposed solution - The Horus - meets these design criteria by integrating existing and novel technologies and ideas. The Horus is an origami-unfolding solar array folded into a pattern called the Flasher model that deploys when radial force is applied to its outer perimeter. This radial force is provided by an innovative carbon-fiber expanding ring structure engineered specifically for this application. Once deployed, dust is mitigated by inducing charged waves that travel radially outward across the array, which both repel charged particles and charge neutral particles. Overall, the Horus weighs 1335 kg and produces an average power output of 85.2 kW at the Martian equator. Horus was selected as one of ve nalists for NASA's BIG Idea Challenge 2018, and was presented to NASA in Cleveland in March 2018 at the BIG Idea Forum.