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Completed TRL 2 (started at 2, targeting 2)
Trans-Formers (TFs) transform a local area of a harsh extreme environment (EE) into a survivable micro-environment, projecting energy at the precise location where robots or humans operate. For example, placed on the rim of Shackleton Crater (SC) at a location that receives solar illumination for most of the year, TFs would reflect solar energy onto robots/base operating in the dark cold crater. - TFs use shape transformation to unfold from a compact volume to a large reflective surface, and to control how much - and where - the energy is projected, compensating for the changing position of the sun.
There are a number of immediate scientific benefits from the study, as contributions advance the state of the art in several areas. From a robotic perspective, it advances shape-changing, self-reconfigurable robots; origami-like TFs are at the same time robots, packages that unfold origami-stype and reflectors. It advances the use of multi-functional system integration in smart surfaces. It also opens new areas in solar energy, with technologies that would allow rapid deployment of solar energy production from compact volumes. Contributions to space technologies: These advancements are well aligned with multiple Technical Areas (TA) of the NASA Space Technology Roadmaps [28]: a) TA04, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, because in all respects, TFs are a new class of robots/autonomous systems, built in 2D, but reconfigurable to 3D shapes, with capabilities beyond the projections of the Roadmap; b) TA12, Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems and Manufacturing, as it addresses innovative types of lightweight and multifunctional structures; and c) TA03, Space Power and Energy Storage, as it proposes innovative ways to redirect solar energy into shadowed exploration sites.
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