Inflatable space structures and deployment simulation

Inflatable space structures, which are made of flexible membrane materials that can be inflated in space, offer many benefits over conventional space structures because they are low in mass and can be packaged into small volumes, which reduce launch vehicle size and cost remarkably. Presents a brief overview of inflatable space structures with an emphasis on their recent development and application. Some key technologies relate to this kind of structure are introduced. By using multi-body theory, deployment simulation of an inflatable space tube is presented; the relations of deployment time with deployment velocities and deployment accelerations of the tube are obtained. Simulation results are verified by the reported testing results.