ABSTRACT: A The next generation of deployable spacecraft structures will require flat apertures of unprecedented scale, for power collection and transmission. Our research is
addressing the challenges of low areal density, efficient packaging, robust and predictable performance in the context of scalable structures that can meet the needs of future
applications. New packaging concepts, inspired by origami and kirigami, compatible with new structural concepts that integrate thin functional films with ultrathin shell structures are being developed.

Implementation of these concepts involves advanced prototyping techniques for thin composite shells, investigation of instabilities at different structural scales, and study of the
deployment dynamics of prototype structures. An overview of this research and its trajectory will be presented in this talk.

BIOSKETCH: Sergio Pellegrino is the Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, JPL Senior Research Scientist and Co-Director of the Space Solar Power Project. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of AIAA and a Chartered Structural Engineer. He has been President of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) and is currently the Past President. He has been the founding chair of the AIAA Spacecraft Structures Technical Committee. His work was recognized by Pioneers’ Award in 2002 from the Space Structures Research Center, University of Surrey, NASA Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement Team Awards (2009, 2016) for his contribution to the superpressure balloon development, and the IASS Tsuboi Medal in 2022.