New Deployable Membrane Structure Models Inspired by Morphological Changes in Nature

Some characteristics of morphological changes in nature are discussed and morphological changes in space structure systems are investigated. Essentially space structure systems change their forms and functions, since they must be initially stowed due to spatial constraints of transportation systems, and deployed in their designed orbits. Recently various concepts of membrane structures are proposed for future large space systems, since they can be compactly stowed, and can easily realize space structures with large area. In their developments, it is a major important issue to ensure the reliability of their deployment processes. From the viewpoint of deployment processes, various morphological changes of some plants, insects, and animals are investigated. The efficient characteristics in their morphological changes such as high redundancy, sequential deployment, utilization of gravity forces, and so on are introduced. A new concept of deployable membrane structure models derived especially from the observation of insects’ metamorphosis including eclosion of butterflies, dragonflies, cicadas, and so on is proposed. Numerical results of its deployment behavior are also shown.