SolarCube: An Origami-Inspired Lightweight Deployable Solar Panel for Nanosatellites

Deployable space structures have played a pivotal role in the past, and their significance will only grow in the future. They serve as a crucial facilitator for a wide array of cutting-edge space applications. This is particularly essential given the constraints imposed by the limited space available within a rocket's fairing, which restricts the size of the payloads it can carry. Among these deployable structures, satellite solar panels stand out as one of the most formidable challenges. The reason lies in the direct correlation between the surface area of these panels and the energy they can generate. In energy-intensive applications like Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), deep space missions, communication systems, and laser applications, the deployment of solar panels becomes the sole viable solution to attain a sufficiently powerful energy-producing surface while maintaining a compact form factor. This paper introduces “SolarCube,” a groundbreaking deployable solar panel designed specifically for nanosatellites, drawing inspiration from origami principles. SolarCube is a commercially available solar panel unit that incorporates the ingenious flasher origami pattern. Remarkably, it can be comfortably accommodated within a 1U volume while possessing the capacity to power even the most energy-demanding 3U CubeSat platforms. Despite its foldable origami design, SolarCube leverages rigid triple junction solar cells, capable of producing approximately 70W of power in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), all while maintaining an estimated mass of under 0.8 kg. What sets SolarCube apart is its innovative design and manufacturing process known as FRET, which stands for “Flexible Reinforced Electronics with Textile.” FRET seamlessly merges flexible electronics with textile materials, resulting in a solar panel that boasts an unprecedented resistance to bending, stretching, and folding cycles. This unique combination of origami folding techniques and FRET technology empowers SolarCube to achieve an exceptionally high stowed-to-deployed surface ratio. In this work, we present the concept and formulation of SolarCube, along with its preliminary design encompassing both the solar panel and its deployment system. Furthermore, we delve into the modeling and simulation of SolarCube using Finite Element Method (FEM) in stowed configuration. Finally, we propose a mission scenario aimed at evaluating the performance and thermal stability of SolarCube in real-world space conditions.