Manufacturing progressing

The first prototype full structure of SAM for the REXUS 13/14 sounding rocket mission was manufactured last week by Strathclyde student Adnan Mahmood. The full structure has 18 circular elements in two rows. During the last couple of week Adnan improved the manufacturing technique by using a heated ring to heat seal the spheres made out of alluminized PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) commonly found in heat and rescue blankets. The picture to the right shows the vacuum inflation of two spheres connected in the middle point (connection points between the rows).

13th Gossamer Structures Systems Forum

Last Tuesday, SAM got presented at the Inflatable Structures Session of the 13th Gossamer Structures System Forum at the Waikiki Sheraton in Hawaii. The paper had the ID AIAA-2012-1517 and the title "Design and Development of a Deployable Self-inflating Adaptive Membrane. The presentation was well received by the roughly 80 people in the audience. SAM got useful comments and feedback to improve SAM's design further.

Abstract for 63rd International Astronautical Congress 2012 in Naples have been accepted

The abstracts for three papers focusing on the self-inflating adaptive membrane concept have been accepted for the 63rd International Astronautical Congress from the 1st until the 5th of October 2012 in Naples, Italy. The first paper explains the idea, design and principle behind the concept with the title "Bio-inspired programmable matter for space applications" which will be presented in C2.5 (C2 Materials and Structure Symposium, Session 5: Smart Materials and Adaptive Structures). The second paper deals with an application of the membrane as a method of mitigating space debris. The paper’s title is “Space debris removal using a self-inflating adaptive membrane” which is going to be presented in A6.5 (A6 Space Debris Symposium, Session 5: Space Debris Removal Issues). The last paper was accepted for the student team competition and it will give an overview of the experiment StrathSat-R (including SAM) which will be launched on board REXUS 13/14 in March 2013. The paper has the title “StrathSat-R: Deploying inflatable CubeSat structures in micro gravity” and will be presented in the E2.3 (E2 42nd Student Conference, Session 3: Student Team Competition).

Paper on SAM submitted for AIAA's 53rd Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (SDM)

Last night, the paper on SAM with the title "Design and Development of a Self-inflating Adaptive Membrane" was submitted to the 53rd Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (SDM). The conference will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii from the 23^rd till 26^th of April 2012. SAM’s paper outlines the idea behind the bio-inspired membrane, an explanation of the residual air inflation technique, an overview over manufacturing techniques and a comparison of different folding pattern to decrease SAM’s storage volume. The paper concludes with a summary of SAM’s technology demonstrator mission on-board REXUS13/14. Thomas Sinn will participate in the conference and will present the paper at the 13th AIAA Gossamer Systems Forum which is part of the 53rd Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (SDM). Exact date and time of the presentation still needs to be confirmed.