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Self-Erecting Elevated Platform
Completed
TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
Description
Proposed is a portable guyed lattice column system with an erector mechanism to autonomously lift and uphold a payload, such as a solar array that needs to be elevated to provide continuous power near a Lunar pole. Deployment proceeds from the base up, bay by bay, as the erector jacks each bay open while rising with the mast top where the bays yet to be opened are also stacked. The guy wires are sequentially tightened as deployment proceeds. Thus, full strength and stiffness are guaranteed for the mast sections already extended. Reverse operation collapses the column. The system is eminently scalable and adaptable. Even with a fixed mast design, the number of bays and the anchoring geometry can be easily set to serve any of a variety of platform heights and payload weights. Developed are a conceptual design ready for hardware development for the mast-and-erector assembly, and a procedure to assist preliminary design for autonomous Lunar applications.
Benefits
Lightweight, modular, repeatedly deployable, and autonomously operable elevated platforms to raise and uphold solar arrays for Lunar missions in the polar regions, or to lift and support above the planetary surface instruments or equipment for other extraterrestrial applications.
Light weight guyed tower structures for environments or time constraints that forbid traditional erection methods (hoisting, cranes, or helicopters). This includes meteorological/research and military use.
Details
| Technology area | Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems, and Manufacturing > Mechanical Systems > Electromechanical, Mechanical, and Micromechanical Devices |
| Program | Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer (SBIR/STTR) |
| Lead organization | TentGuild Engineering Company, Boulder, CO |
| Start date | 2020-08-31 |
| End date | 2021-03-01 |
Project contacts
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How to get involved
This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.
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