Gossamer-1
The Gossamer-1 project is concerned with the development and establishment of a space-qualified technology for the deployment of ultra-light, large foil structures in space. The core technologies are foil and deployment technologies that can be folded to a small, rocket-launch-compatible stowage volume with minimised mass. The construction must be robust enough to withstand the extreme stresses that occur during launch (for example vibration or rapid decompression) so that it can then be reliably and safely deployed in space as a large, smoothly stretched foil surface.
Such structures have a wide range of applications. In the context of this project, the general development is focused on the following three applications:
- Ultralight sail structures for solar sailing as an alternative propulsion technology
- Ultralight, large-area solar energy generators with thin-film photovoltaics
- Ultralight atmospheric sails for deorbiting spacecraft from LEO
Designed as a freeflyer, all subsystems of a spacecraft are developed within the project across departments at the Institute of Space Systems. The Department of Mechanics and Thermal Systems focuses on membrane technology (design, production, accumulation, unfolding, ageing) in conjunction with the application of thin-film photovoltage technology, mechanism design and the qualification of all components and the system under space conditions. The department is also responsible for the overall coordination of system engineering.