Caltech-led demo is a milestone for constructing large-scale space systems.
The Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) program has achieved the first ever demonstration of automated in-space assembly.
A California Institute of Technology (Caltech) payload operating in orbit built a truss structure from individual components. A relatively simple gantry robot (able to move along three linear axes) connected composite truss members using custom-designed joints while simultaneously deploying a thin reflective mesh; a proof-of-concept for future space-based antennas. The accomplishment validates a new approach for how future large-scale space systems may be designed, launched, and constructed.
“NOM4D’s objective is to enable efficient, scalable construction of very large structures in space,” said Andrew Detor, NOM4D program manager. “By ‘very large,’ I mean hundreds of meters or kilometers in scale. Nothing approaching that scale can be achieved today.”
Source: DARPAtv
