Origami is the Japanese tradition of paper-folding. It has recently fascinated NASA engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. They believe that origami is "deceptively simple, hiding complex math within its creases."
These engineers have been trying to come up with an answer to how to pack the largest amount of spacecraft into the smallest volume possible. One answer could be the Starshade. The Starshade is an immense, folding iris that has been made as a way to block light from distant stars. Although this will be more cost efficient, there is a bigger risk of "micrometeorite strikes. This means that any puncture it suffers from allows light getting through and obscuring a telescope's vision. They are using multiple layers of material to block the starlight, each separated by some gaps. There is less chance that there will be a line-of-sigh puncture with this method. A crucial part of it was developing algorithms that would allow the Starshade to fold repeatedly, smoothly and predictably. Using origami lessens the cost and mass of it, while being easier to launch.
These engineers have been trying to come up with an answer to how to pack the largest amount of spacecraft into the smallest volume possible. One answer could be the Starshade. The Starshade is an immense, folding iris that has been made as a way to block light from distant stars. Although this will be more cost efficient, there is a bigger risk of "micrometeorite strikes. This means that any puncture it suffers from allows light getting through and obscuring a telescope's vision. They are using multiple layers of material to block the starlight, each separated by some gaps. There is less chance that there will be a line-of-sigh puncture with this method. A crucial part of it was developing algorithms that would allow the Starshade to fold repeatedly, smoothly and predictably. Using origami lessens the cost and mass of it, while being easier to launch.
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