Ekblaw, Ariel, and Joseph Paradiso. "Self-assembling Space Structures: Buckminsterfullerene Sensor Nodes." In 2018 AIAA SciTech / AHS Adaptive Structures Conference, p. 0565. 2018.

Abstract

Self-assembly protocols hold great promise for aerospace structure development, offering a reduction in complexity, removal of manual construction steps and an increased flexibility for dynamic space-allocation and adaptive reconfigurations of the architectural base units. We propose a buckminsterfullerene self-assembling structure for deployment in zero gravity. This paper details our concept design, the sensor node and electronics design, the communication architecture, and preliminary parabolic flight tests on a proof-of-concept hardware prototype. This research advances towards a technology demonstration mission.