NASA SBIR 00-1 SOLICITATION
FORM 9B - PROJECT SUMMARY
PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 16.05-9043 (Chron: 000958 )
PROJECT TITLE
Biomimetic Fabricated Solar Sail Technologies
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Solar sails have been recognized by NASA as a key technology for enabling many future NASA missions to explore the solar system and beyond. Sailcraft of 250m and above, for outer planetary and extra solar missions, are not feasible with current technology and will require both a paradigm shift away from ground-based fabrication and the development of new innovative sail technologies. The current paradigm of ground-based fabrication followed by space-based deployment could be replaced by in-space fabrication of sails up to a kilometer in size. The Phase I technical objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept of in-space fabrication of a biomemetic, bird-feather-like sail structure based on vacuum flash foaming from spinnaret-terminated tubes. The end result of this research will be the development of a lab scale process for in-space fabrication and metallizing of solar sails with very low areal density. This process would be readily scalable to a larger demonstration of a prototype sail segment under a Phase II effort.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The next phase of solar system and deep space exploration will require a paradigm shift involving new technologies and design philosophies. Solar sails will play an important role in these missions by enabling high mission delta-V's in a lightweight structure requiring no main propulsion propellant. NASA has identified many missions suitable for the use of 250m aperture and larger sails to explore Pluto, the Oort Cloud, the Heliopause, and nearby star systems. Using conventional propulsion systems for such missions would require massive amounts of propellant and exceedingly long mission times that in some cases would exceed 50 years. Additionally, the on-Earth fabrication and packaging of a very large Gossamer sail presents handling, stowage, and deployment complications that render them impractical with current technology. In-space, flash-foam fabrication and metallization of very large solar sails is the key to enabling these future deep space missions in a timely and cost effective manner. Successful development and marketing of this technology for sailcraft could result in commercial sales exceeding $3M based on future missions plans. In addition, in-space foam membrane fabrication could potentially be adapted for other uses such as multifunction Gossamer structures and the large-scale thermal insulation of spacecraft.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
(Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Chris Talley
SRS Technologies
500 Discovery Drive
Huntsville , AL 35806 - 0000
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR
(Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
SRS Technologies
500 Discovery Drive
Huntsville , AL 35806 - 2810