The demand for pressurized, large structures in space, such as habitats or fuel deposits, is increasing as the space industry grows. The limited payload volume of launch vehicles, combined with their highly constrained shape, presents a significant challenge for these structures. Origami-inspired deployable structures have emerged as a potential solution for this problem. This work aims to design and optimize an origami-inspired deployable structure for use as a technology demonstrator in a 12U CubeSat. The choice of pattern, deployment mechanism, and material considerations are discussed as they are relevant in the initial configuration of the structural prototype. By combining two different types of printable materials, it is possible to create a pattern that is more flexible without the use of mechanical hinges. Then two different modeling methods are analyzed in order to study their physical behavior. Once all the desired configurations are computed, an optimization process is applied in order to obtain the most suitable one under the pre-defined requirements.@en

The progressive democratization of human space exploration has brought a potential demand for affordable large, pressurized structures in space such as habitats as well as fuel tanks in orbit. Unconventional space structures are a potential engineering solution because they can optimize the structural performance for the launcher's geometric limitations. Specifically, deployable origami-inspired structures allow for a compromise solution between available volume and cargo weight. Origami-inspired structures have been studied for space applications in past and recent works, but there are still gaps between the in-orbit requirements and technological challenges with the current state-of-the-art. Consequently, there is a need for small scale demonstrators for this technology that will allow to characterize and validate the deployment concept. Such a small-scale demonstrator would fit within 12U CubeSat (or equivalent small sat configurations) and would unveil possible technical challenges not considered in the modelling stage. This work explores the design of a prototype for a deployable structure with a high packaging potential and a small number of degrees of freedom. A cylindrical origami deployable structure is studied under its processes of folding and deployment. This configuration has also the advantage of a possible pressure-controlled deployment, one with special interest for habitable modules or, additionally, fuel tanks for transportation and storage. In particular, the first steps towards a complete design of the demonstrator are explored: the shape optimization, the material selection, and its structural behaviour. To design this demonstrator a parametric trade-off study of the different origami patterns is performed: looking for an optimal packaging ratio. Once the geometrically optimal configurations are obtained for each origami pattern, relevant materials are selected, and possible manufacturing challenges are discussed.

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