Research on the problem of high-precision deployment for large-aperture space-based science instruments

The present paper summarizes results from an ongoing research program conducted jointly by the University of Colorado and NASA Langley Research Center since 1994. This program has resulted in general guidelines for the design of high-precision deployment mechanisms, and tests of prototype deployable structures incorporating these mechanisms have shown microdynamically stable behavior (i.e., dimensional stability to parts per million). These advancements have resulted from the identification of numerous heretofore unknown microdynamic and micromechanical response phenomena, and the development of new test techniques and instrumentation systems to interrogate these phenomena. In addition, recent tests have begun to interrogate nanomechanical response of materials and joints and have been used to develop an understanding of nonlinear nanodynamic behavior in microdynamically stable structures. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to enable nano-precision active control of micro-precision deployable structures (i.e., active control to a resolution of parts per billion).