US Patent Issued to Lockheed Martin on May 12 for "Self-deploying flexible solar array" (California Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,627,255, issued on May 12, was assigned to Lockheed Martin Corp. (Bethesda, Md.).

"Self-deploying flexible solar array" was invented by John L. Gibb (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Provided herein are various enhancements for solar arrays and photovoltaic systems for spacecraft, vehicles, and other applications. In one example, an assembly includes a base layer having a generally circular shape and comprising a plurality of gores interspersed by radial folds. The assembly includes a photovoltaic array coupled to the gores, and a tensioning element configured to apply circumferential tension about a central node of the ba...