An Origami-Inspired Deployable Space Debris Collector

This paper develops a novel approach to design, actuate, and manufacture a space debris collector based on the conical Kresling origami pattern. The deployable nature of origami structures and the radial closability of the conical Kresling pattern are leveraged to form an enclosure volume for collecting space debris at different sizes. We first introduce the geometric, volume, and energy models of the conical Kresling pattern. Based on these models, the debris collector design problem is formulated as a parameter optimization problem to minimize the actuation energy for the folding process while satisfying the minimum volume constraint and geometric/functional constraints. To automatically capture debris in space, an actuation system is designed, which is compatible with space environments. Moreover, the multi-material three-dimensional printing technology is applied to build the designed debris collector, which makes it feasible for manufacturing the product in orbit. The proposed design, actuation, and manufacturing approaches are verified with experimental tests using a designed prototype.