Membrane Modular Structures With Inflatable Tubes and Connective Cables for Future Space Applications

Spirally folded hexagonal membrane structures with inflatable tubes and connective cable networks are presented aiming to establish possible construction scenarios of future large space structure systems over hundreds meters scale and corresponding structures based on the hierarchical modular structure concept using deployable membrane modules. Laboratory scale hand-made conceptual models are manufactured, and their deployment experiments are carried out to show their applicability to the hierarchical modular structures systems.