An apparatus and method for forming an elongate member for use in a space environment

Abstract

An apparatus and method for forming an elongate member for use in a space environment The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for forming an elongate member for use in a space environment. the apparatus comprises a supply mechanism and a structure forming mechanism. The supply mechanism is configured to receive a supply of sheet material. The structure forming mechanism is configured such that, in use, sheet material is fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism, the structure forming mechanism comprising one or more guide members configured to guide the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form an elongate member. The present disclosure also relates to an assembly apparatus, a method of forming an elongate member, and a sheet material.

Description

[0001] An apparatus and method for forming an elongate member for use in a space environment

[0002] Technical Field The present disclosure relates to an apparatus forming an elongate member for use in a space environment and to a spacecraft comprising the same. The present disclosure also relates to a method of forming an elongate member for use in a space environment, to an assembly apparatus, and a sheet material. Background

[0003] Placing spacecraft or components thereof into space is a complex task in which an increase in the size of the spacecraft / components to be placed into space can dramatically increase the cost of the operation. The spacecraft / components must fit within given dimensions of the launch vehicle. This is particularly challenging for spacecraft with large dimensions or which require, for example, large components such as large solar arrays or antennae that must fit within the payload volume of the launch vehicle.

[0004] Summary It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for forming an elongate member for use in a space environment.

[0005] In accordance with embodiments of the invention described herein, there is provided an apparatus for forming an elongate member for use in a space environment, the apparatus comprising: a supply mechanism configured to receive a supply of sheet material; and, a structure forming mechanism configured such that, in use, sheet material is fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism, the structure forming mechanism comprising one or more guide members configured to guide the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form an elongate member.

[0006] Advantageously, the supply of sheet material can be transported to the space environment and then longer elongate member can be formed from the supply. The supply may occupy a smaller volume / length than the elongate member and therefore is easier and less expensive to transport. In addition, it has been found that forming the elongate member in the manner described above provides high torsional stiffness of the elongate member. Furthermore, the apparatus may optionally be used to form multiple elongate members from a single supply of sheet material and / or by replenishing the supply of sheet material. The apparatus can form the elongate member relatively quickly and is also relatively cost-effective to operate.

[0007] In some embodiments, the one or more guide members are configured to guide the sheet material to advance about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction along the conveyance axis to form the elongate member such that the elongate member rotates about the conveyance axis.

[0008] In some embodiments, the or each guide member is moveable to accommodate movement of the sheet material. In some embodiments, the or each guide member is a roller or a belt.

[0009] In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured such that a payload is couplable to the sheet material such that, in use, when the sheet material is advanced about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction along the conveyance axis, the payload is moved from a first position to a second position.

[0010] Movement of the payload from the first position to the second position may deploy the payload. The first and second positions may optionally be stowed and deployed positions. The payload may be deployed in the axial direction. In some embodiments, a payload is attached to the sheet material such that, in use, when the sheet material is advanced about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction along the conveyance axis, the payload is deployed.

[0011] In some embodiments, the payload may comprise at least one of: a sensor, communications device (transmitter or received), solar panel(s), or propulsion device.

[0012] In some embodiments, the payload is configured to unfold during movement from the first position to the second position. In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a coupling that is configured to couple the payload to the elongate member and, preferably, wherein the coupling permits the elongate member to rotate about the conveyance axis without the same corresponding rotation of the payload.

[0013] In some embodiments, the elongate member is a structural component, for example, a beam or truss, for use in the assembly of a space structure.

[0014] In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a line supply mechanism configured to supply a line and, preferably, wherein the line comprises at least one of: a cable such as a power and / or data cable (which may be, for example, electrical and / or optical), or a fluid supply pipe.

[0015] In some embodiments, the line supply mechanism is configured such that, in use, when the sheet material is advanced about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction to form the elongate member, the line is drawn in the axial direction.

[0016] In some embodiments, the line is located on the interior and / or exterior of the elongate member. The elongate member may be a hollow structure that forms a fluid conduit. The line may be located on the interior and / or exterior of the fluid conduit. In some embodiments, the cable supply mechanism is configured to attach the line to the sheet material.

[0017] In some embodiments, the sheet material has first and second edges, and wherein the one or more guide members are configured to guide the sheet material to advance about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction such that the first edge overlaps the second edge.

[0018] In some embodiments, the overlap of the first and second edges is at least 1% of the width of the sheet material and, preferably, is at least 2%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45% or 50% of the width of the sheet material.

[0019] In some embodiments, the overlap of the first and second edges is at most 50% of the width of the sheet material and, preferably, is at most 40 %, 30 % or 25 % or 20% of the width of the sheet material. In some embodiments, the supply mechanism is configured to receive a roll of sheet material and, preferably, wherein the supply mechanism comprises a roll holder.

[0020] In some embodiments, the roll holder comprises a bobbin for receiving the roll of sheet material.

[0021] In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a drive that, in use, is operable to urge the sheet material to be fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism.

[0022] In some embodiments, the drive comprises a motor.

[0023] In some embodiments, the drive comprises a pair of opposing drive members configured to receive the sheet material therebetween, and wherein, in use, the drive is operable to rotate at least one of the drive members to urge the sheet material to be fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism.

[0024] In some embodiments, the drive members are rollers. In one such embodiment, the motor is operable to urge one or both of the drive rollers to rotate to urge the sheet material to be fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism.

[0025] In other embodiments, the drive is operable to rotate at least one of the guide members to urge the sheet material to be fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism.

[0026] In yet further embodiments, the drive is operable to rotate one or more components of the supply mechanism to urge the sheet material to be fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism. For example, the supply mechanism may comprise a roll holder (for example, a bobbin) that receives a roll of the sheet material, and wherein the drive is operable to rotate the roll holder to urge the sheet material to be fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism.

[0027] In some embodiments, the drive is operable to increase an axial length of the elongate member. The axial length of the elongate member may be adjustable. In some embodiments, in use, the drive is operable to urge the sheet material to be fed from the structure forming mechanism to the supply mechanism to reduce an axial length of the elongate member. Advantageously, in some embodiments the sheet material may be recycled.

[0028] In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a joining mechanism that is configured to join a first portion of the sheet material to a second portion of the sheet material and, preferably, wherein the joining mechanism comprises a heater configured to heat the sheet material. In some embodiments, the heater is configured to inductively heat the sheet material.

[0029] In some embodiments, the joining mechanism is configured to join the first and second portions such that the sheet material is retained in the form of the elongate member. In some embodiments, the heater is configured to melt at least one of the first and second portions of the sheet material such that said portion subsequently cools and solidifies to join the first and second portions of the sheet material. Advantageously, the portions can therefore be joined together without providing an additional adhesive, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process of the elongate member.

[0030] In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured such that, in use, the first and second portions of sheet material are pressed together. This may help to join the first and second portions. In some embodiments, the joining mechanism is configured to join the first and second portions after the sheet material has been guided by the one or more guide members.

[0031] In some embodiments, the first and second portions of the sheet material are pressed together by a pair of rollers and, preferably, by first and second guide rollers.

[0032] In some embodiments, the joining mechanism is configured such that the join of the first and second portions subtends continuously about the conveyance axis to form a hermetic seal. In some embodiments, the or at least one of the guide members comprises a guide roller. In some embodiments, the guide members comprise at least one pair of guide rollers configured such that the sheet material passes between the guide rollers. The pair of rollers may be configured to impart a curvature of motion to the sheet material.

[0033] In one embodiment, one of the guide rollers of the pair has a larger diameter than the other one of the guide rollers of the pair. The pair of guide rollers may be configured to form an English wheel.

[0034] In some embodiments, the or at least one of the guide members is adjustable to adjust the size (for example, the width, which may be the diameter) of the elongate member that is formed by the apparatus. For example, the position of at least one of the guide members may be adjusted relative to the position of at least another one of the guide rollers to adjust the size of the elongate member.

[0035] In some embodiments, the one or more guide members are configured to guide the sheet material along a substantially helical path.

[0036] In some embodiments, the elongate member is a tube and, preferably, is substantially cylindrical. In some embodiment, the elongate member is a hollow structure.

[0037] In some embodiments, the elongate member comprises a peripheral wall and, preferably, the peripheral wall in generally tubular. In some embodiments, the position of the or at least one of the guide members relative to the conveyance axis is adjustable to adjust the size of the elongate member.

[0038] In some embodiments, the or at least one of the guide members is adjustable to adjust a radius that the sheet material is advanced about the conveyance axis to adjust the diameter of the elongate member.

[0039] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprising a cutting device that is configured to a separate the elongate member from the sheet material received in the supply mechanism. In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a layer provision mechanism that is configured to provide a layer of material. In some embodiments, the layer provision mechanism is configured to provide the layer of material on the interior or exterior of the wall.

[0040] In some embodiments, the layer of material is at least one of: a sealing layer, a thermally insulating layer, and / or a shielding layer.

[0041] In some embodiments, the sealing layer is configured to hermetically seal the wall. In some embodiments, the shielding layer is configured to shield the interior of the elongate member from radiation, for example, ionising radiation.

[0042] In some embodiments, the layer of material is an inner layer. The layer of material may be a multi-layer insulation, for example, a multi-layer thermal insulation.

[0043] In some embodiments, the layer of material is a spayed layer and, optionally, the sprayed layer is applied to an interior or exterior surface of the wall.

[0044] In some embodiments, the layer of material comprises a flexible material.

[0045] In some embodiments, the layer of material comprises a bladder and, preferably, wherein the bladder is inflatable. The bladder may be a flexible layer of material.

[0046] In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to receive a supply of further sheet material, wherein the structure forming mechanism is configured such that, in use, the further sheet material is fed to the structure forming mechanism, and wherein the one or more guide members is configured to guide the further sheet material to advance about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction to form an additional layer of the elongate member.

[0047] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a further sheet supply mechanism configured to receive the supply of further sheet material, wherein the structure forming mechanism is configured such that, in use, the further sheet material is fed from the further sheet supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism, and wherein the one or more guide members is configured to guide the further sheet material to advance about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction to form an additional layer of the elongate member. In other embodiments, the supply mechanism is configured to receive both the supply of sheet material and the further supply of sheet material. In some embodiments, the supply and further supply of sheet material are received on a single bobbin of the supply mechanism. In some embodiments, the sheet material is one of an interior or exterior sheet material.

[0048] In some embodiments, the further sheet material is one of an interior or exterior sheet material. In some embodiments, the sheet material is the other one of the interior or exterior sheet material.

[0049] In some embodiments, the layer of material provided by the layer provision mechanism is located between the sheet material and the further sheet material of a wall of the elongate member. In some embodiments, the layer of material separates the sheet material from the further sheet material.

[0050] In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to receive a supply of a second sheet material; and, a second structure forming mechanism configured such that, in use, second sheet material is fed to the second structure forming mechanism, the second structure forming mechanism comprising one or more guide members configured to guide the second sheet material to advance about a second conveyance axis and in a second axial direction along the second conveyance axis to form a second elongate member. In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a second supply mechanism configured to receive the supply of the second sheet material; wherein the second structure forming mechanism configured such that, in use, second sheet material is fed from the second supply mechanism to the second structure forming mechanism to advance about a second conveyance axis and in a second axial direction along the second conveyance axis to form a second elongate member. In other embodiments, the supply mechanism is configured to receive both the supply of sheet material and the second supply of sheet material. In some embodiments, the supply and second supply of sheet material are received on a single bobbin of the supply mechanism.

[0051] In some embodiments, the second sheet material is substantially the same as the first sheet material.

[0052] In some embodiments, the first conveyance axis and second conveyance axis extend in different directions and, preferably, in opposite directions.

[0053] In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a supply of sheet material received in the supply mechanism. In some embodiments, the sheet material a composite material. In some embodiments, the sheet material comprises carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic.

[0054] In some embodiments, the sheet material comprises one or more susceptors. In some embodiments, the axial length of the elongate member is at least 5 metres and, preferably, is at least 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, too or 150 metres.

[0055] In some embodiments, the axial length of the elongate member is in the range of 5 to 150 metres.

[0056] The apparatus may be configured to operate in the space environment to form the elongate member.

[0057] According to the present disclosure, there is also provided an assembly apparatus for assembling components of spacecraft in space, the assembly apparatus comprising: a core platform; and a mobile platform comprising an end effector configured to perform an assembly task; the mobile platform being connected to the core platform by a tether; the core platform comprising a body and a coupling element connected to and extendable from the body such that the coupling element may be spaced from the body of the core platform; wherein the tether connects the mobile platform to the body via the coupling element; an actuator configured to vary the length of the tether extending between the coupling element and the mobile platform to control the position of the mobile platform relative to the body of the core platform; and, an apparatus for forming an elongate member according to the present disclosure, and wherein the elongate member is a truss configured to space the coupling element from the body of the core platform.

[0058] In some embodiments, the assembly apparatus comprises: a plurality apparatuses according the present disclosure that is each configured to form an elongate member that is a truss; and, a plurality of tethers, the coupling element being located on distal end of each truss and being configured to receive a tether to connect the mobile platform to the core platform.

[0059] In some embodiments, the body of the core platform is a central body and the plurality of trusses are extendable outwardly from the central body.

[0060] In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises at least one separate tether coupled to the each coupling element at a coupling point, the coupling point of each truss defining a workspace of the apparatus when the truss is deployed. In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises an actuator for each tether so that the lengths of the tethers extending between the coupling points and the mobile platforms can be varied independently in order to position the mobile platform in any position in the workspace. In some embodiments, the assembly apparatus further comprises an additional tether extending directly between the body of the core platform and the mobile platform and an additional actuator to control the length of the additional tether.

[0061] In some embodiments, the actuators are located on the body of the core platform.

[0062] In some embodiments, the actuators are located on the coupling elements located at the distal end of the trusses of the core platform when the trusses are deployed.

[0063] In some embodiments, the actuators are located in the mobile platform. In some embodiments, the end effector comprises a robotic manipulator, the robotic manipulator being configured to perform an assembly task.

[0064] In some embodiments, the body of the core platform comprises a storage compartment for storing structural elements of a spacecraft to be assembled and / or repaired.

[0065] According to the present disclosure, there is also provided a system for assembling a component of a spacecraft in space, the system comprising: an assembly apparatus as previously described; and a plurality of structural elements of a component of a spacecraft to be assembled.

[0066] According to the present disclosure, there is also provided a spacecraft comprising the apparatus for forming an elongate member described herein and / or the assembly apparatus described herein.

[0067] According to the present disclosure, there is also provided a deployment mechanism comprising the apparatus for forming an elongate member according to the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the deployment mechanism further comprises a payload, wherein the payload is couplable to the sheet material such that, in use, when the sheet material is advanced about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction along the conveyance axis, the payload is moved from a first position to a second position. In some embodiments, the payload may comprise at least one of: a sensor, communications device (transmitter or received), solar panel(s), or propulsion device.

[0068] In some embodiments, the payload is configured to unfold during movement from the first position to the second position.

[0069] In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a coupling that is configured to couple the payload to the elongate member and, preferably, wherein the coupling permits the elongate member to rotate about the conveyance axis without the same corresponding rotation of the payload. According to the present disclosure, there is also provided a method of forming an elongate member for use in a space environment, the method comprising: feeding sheet material from a supply of sheet material and guiding the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form the elongate member.

[0070] In some embodiments, the method comprises: feeding sheet material from a supply of sheet material to one or more guide members; and, using the one or more guide members to guide the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form the elongate member.

[0071] In some embodiments, at least part of the method is performed in the space environment. The method may further comprise the step of transporting the supply of sheet material to the space environment.

[0072] According to the present disclosure, there is also provided an elongate member formed by the above method.

[0073] According to the present disclosure there is also provided a sheet material for use with an apparatus for forming an elongate member, the sheet material comprising a composite substrate comprising a thermally activated adhesive and at least one susceptor that is configured to be inductively heated to activate the adhesive.

[0074] In some embodiments, the thermally activated adhesive comprises a thermoplastic.

[0075] In some embodiments, the substrate comprises a reinforcement material and a matrix material. The reinforcement material may be, for example, pre-impregnated with the matrix material. The reinforcement material may be, for example, carbon fibre. The matrix material may be, for example, a thermoplastic or resin. The sheet material may comprise a carbon-fibre reinforced polymer.

[0076] In some embodiments, matrix material comprises the adhesive. The adhesive may be integral to the composite substrate. In another embodiment, the adhesive is applied at a surface of the composite substrate. The adhesive may be applied as a strip. In the present example, the sheet material comprises a carbon-fibre reinforced thermoplastic. In another example, the sheet material comprises a thermoplastic without carbon-fibre reinforcement. In some embodiments, the sheet material is a roll of sheet material.

[0077] According to the present disclosure, there is also provided an apparatus configured to operate in a space environment to form an elongate member, the apparatus comprising: a supply mechanism configured to receive a supply of sheet material; and, a structure forming mechanism configured such that, in use, sheet material is fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism, the structure forming mechanism comprising one or more guide members configured to guide the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form an elongate member. The apparatus may comprise any of the features described herein.

[0078] According to the present disclosure, there is also provided a spacecraft comprising an apparatus for forming an elongate member, the apparatus comprising: a supply mechanism configured to receive a supply of sheet material; and, a structure forming mechanism configured such that, in use, sheet material is fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism, the structure forming mechanism comprising one or more guide members configured to guide the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form an elongate member. The apparatus may comprise any of the features described herein.

[0079] Brief Description of the Drawings

[0080] Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0081] Fig. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of an apparatus for forming an elongate member; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

[0082] Fig. 3 is a side view of the apparatus of Fig. 1, configured to form an elongate member with a first diameter; Fig. 4 is a side view of the apparatus of Fig. 1, configured to form an elongate member with a second diameter; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of roll of sheet material for the apparatus of Fig. 1;

[0083] Fig. 6 is an elongate member formed by the apparatus of Fig. 1, wherein the elongate member is attached to a supply of sheet material;

[0084] Fig. 7 is an elongate member formed by the apparatus of Fig 1, wherein the elongate member has been separated from the supply of sheet material;

[0085] Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an adjustment system of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

[0086] Fig. 9 is a side view of another embodiment of an apparatus for forming an elongate member; Fig. io is a side view of another embodiment of an apparatus for forming an elongate member;

[0087] Fig. n is a cross-sectional view of part of an elongate member formed by the apparatus of Fig. io;

[0088] Fig. 12 is a s cross-sectional side view of a part of another embodiment of an elongate member, the elongate member comprising an inflatable bladder;

[0089] Fig. 13 is a side view of another embodiment of an apparatus for forming an elongate member;

[0090] Fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view of part of an elongate member formed by the apparatus of Fig. 13; Fig. 15 is a perspective view of another embodiment of an apparatus for forming an elongate member, wherein a payload is in a stowed position;

[0091] Fig. 16 is a perspective view of the apparatus of Fig. 15, wherein the payload is in a deployed position;

[0092] Fig. 17 is a cross-sectional side view of a part of the elongate member formed by the apparatus of Fig. 15 and a coupling;

[0093] Fig. 18 is a side view of the apparatus of Fig. 15;

[0094] Fig. 19 is a side view of another embodiment of an apparatus for forming an elongate member;

[0095] Fig. 20 is a schematic top view of an embodiment of an assembly apparatus; Fig. 21 shows a perspective view of the assembly apparatus of Fig. 20 before trusses of the apparatus have been extended;

[0096] Fig. 22 is a zoomed in perspective view of a mobile platform of the assembly apparatus of Fig. 21;

[0097] Fig. 23 is a perspective view of the assembly apparatus of Fig. 20 part way through an assembly process; Fig. 24 is a zoomed in perspective view of the mobile platform of the assembly apparatus of Fig. 20 performing a step of the method of assembling a component of a spacecraft;

[0098] Fig. 25 is a zoomed in perspective view of the mobile platform of Fig. 24 performing a step of the method of assembling a component of a spacecraft;

[0099] Fig. 26 is a zoomed in perspective view of the mobile platform of Fig. 24 performing a step of the method of assembling a component of a spacecraft;

[0100] Fig. 27 is a zoomed in perspective view of the mobile platform of Fig. 24 performing a step of the method of assembling a component of a spacecraft; Fig. 28 is a zoomed in perspective view of the mobile platform of Fig. 24 performing a step of the method of assembling a component of a spacecraft;

[0101] Fig. 29 is a zoomed in perspective view of the mobile platform of Fig. 24 performing a step of the method of assembling a component of a spacecraft;

[0102] Fig. 30 is a schematic view of a component of a spacecraft created by the assembly apparatus;

[0103] Fig. 31 is a side view of an apparatus for forming an elongate member of the apparatus of Fig. 20;

[0104] Fig. 32 is a schematic cross-sectional top view of a body of a central platform and apparatuses for forming respective elongate members of the apparatus of Fig. 20; schematic side view of another embodiment of an assembly apparatus; schematic side view of another embodiment of an assembly apparatus; schematic side view of another embodiment of the assembly apparatus; block diagram schematically illustrating an embodiment of a method of forming an elongate member; and, Fig. 37 is a side view of an embodiment of a cable supply mechanism.

[0105] Detailed Description of the Invention

[0106] Referring now to Figs. 1 to 8, an embodiment of an apparatus 1 for forming an elongate member too for use in a space environment is shown.

[0107] The apparatus 1 comprises a supply mechanism 2 configured to receive a supply 3 of sheet material 3A. In the present example, the supply 3 of sheet material 3A is a roll 3 of sheet material 3A. The apparatus 1 further comprises a structure forming mechanism 4 that is configured to form the elongate member too. In use, sheet material 3A is fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4. That is, sheet material 3A is unravelled / unrolled from the roll 3 and is fed to the structure forming mechanism 4. The structure forming mechanism 4 guides the sheet material 3A into the shape of an elongate member too that is a hollow structure too. In the present embodiment, the hollow structure too is tubular, comprising a central void 100A surrounded by a cylindrical tubular peripheral wall 100B. The supply mechanism 2 comprises a holder 6 on which the roll 3 of sheet material 3A is received. In the present example, the holder 6 is a bobbin 6. In some embodiments, the holder 6 is configured to rotate as the sheet material 3A is fed from the roll 3 to the structure forming mechanism 4. In other embodiments, the holder 6 may remain stationaiy such that the roll 3 rotates relative to the holder 6.

[0108] The structure forming mechanism 4 comprises one or more guide members 5 configured to guide the sheet material 3A to advance about a conveyance axis (shown by chain-dashed line ‘X-X’ in Figs. 2 and 6) and in a first axial direction (shown by arrow ‘A’ in Figs. 2 and 6) along the conveyance axis X-X to form the elongate member too.

[0109] In the present embodiment, the one or more guide members 5 is configured to guide the sheet material 3A to advance about the conveyance axis X-X and in the first axial direction ‘A’ along the conveyance axis X-X such that the sheet material 3A follows a helical or substantially helical path.

[0110] The or at least one of the guide members 5 may comprise a guide roller 5. However, it should be recognised that in other embodiments (not shown), the guide member(s) may take a different form. For example, one or more of the guide members 5 may comprise a moving belt for guiding the sheet material 3A. In another embodiment (not shown), one or more of the guide members 5 comprises a track for guiding the sheet material 3A. In one such embodiment (not shown), the structure forming mechanism 4 comprises a single guide member 5 in the form of a helical or corkscrew shaped track that is configured to guide the sheet material 3A along the track such that the sheet material 3A follows a helical path. In some embodiments, the or each guide member 5 may be stationary. In other embodiments, the or each guide member 5 may move to accommodate movement of the sheet material 3A, for example, comprising a roller or belt.

[0111] In the present example, the structure forming mechanism 4 comprises a plurality of guide members 5. More specifically, the structure forming mechanism 4 comprises first, second, third and fourth guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D which optionally are first, second, third and fourth rollers 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D. When the sheet material 3A is fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4, an end of the sheet material 3A first comes into contact with the first and second guide members 5A, 5B. The first and second guide members 5A, 5B are arranged as a pair of rollers 5A, 5B such that the sheet material 3A is urged between the rollers 5A, 5B as the sheet material 3A is fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4. The first and second rollers 5A, 5B are arranged such that as the sheet material 3A exits the rollers 5A, 5B it curves in a direction generally towards the third guide member 5C. For example, in the present example the first and second rollers 5A, 5B are angled such that the sheet material 3A curves in a direction generally towards the third guide member 5C. Alternatively, or additionally, the first and second rollers 5A, 5B may be respectively sized to induce curvature of the sheet material 3A as it exits the rollers 5A, 5B. For example, the diameter of the second roller 5B may be smaller than the diameter of the first roller 5A. The first and second rollers 5A, 5B may form an ‘English wheel’ configuration to cause the sheet material 3A to follow a curved path as it exits the rollers 5A, 5B. The third and fourth rollers 5C, 5D may optionally be omitted.

[0112] The end of the sheet material 3A then comes into contact with the third guide member 5C as the sheet material 3A is advanced, causing the sheet material 3A to curve in a direction generally towards the fourth guide member 5D. The end of the sheet material 3A then comes into contact with the fourth guide member 5D, causing the sheet material 3A to curve in a direction generally towards the pair of first and second guide members 5A, 5B. The end of the sheet material 3A then comes again into contact with the first and second guide members 5A, 5B to again pass between the first and second guide members 5A, 5B, such that a loop of the sheet material 3A is formed.

[0113] In another embodiment (not shown), an initial loop of the sheet material 3A may be formed after loading of the sheet material 3A into the supply mechanism 2 and before the apparatus 1 is transported to the space environment. That is, the structure forming mechanism 4 may be pre-loaded with the sheet material 3A. For example, an initial loop of the sheet material 3A may be formed by manipulating the sheet material 3A by hand or using one or more robots such that the sheet material 3A abuts each of the first, second, third and fourth guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D and a loop is formed.

[0114] Optionally, the joining mechanism 10, described below, may be operated to retain the initial loop of the sheet material 3A in position or a fastener (for example, a clamp, staple or portion of adhesive) may be used to retain the initial loop in position. The apparatus 1 may then be transported to the space environment, and then the apparatus 1 operated such that sheet material 3A is fed from the supply 3 to the structure forming mechanism 4 to increase the axial length (shown by arrow ‘L’ in Figs. 2 and 7) of the elongate member too and thus form the final elongate member too.

[0115] The guide members 5 are therefore configured to guide the sheet material 3A to advance about the conveyance axis X-X and in the first axial direction ‘A’ along the conveyance axis X-X to form the elongate member too.

[0116] Continued feeding of the sheet material 3A from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4 will cause further loops of the elongate member too to be continuously formed such that the axial length ‘L’ of the elongate member too is increased.

[0117] In the present example, the one or more guide members 5 are positioned about the conveyance axis X-X. In some embodiments, at least one guide member 5 is positioned generally on an opposite side of the conveyance axis X-X to another guide member 5. However, it should be recognised that different forms and arrangements of guide member 5 are possible that still would guide the sheet material 3A to advance about the conveyance axis X-X and in the first axial direction ‘A’ along the conveyance axis X-X to form the elongate member too. For instance, in one embodiment the guide members 5 consist of a pair of guide rollers, wherein a guide roller nearer to the conveyance axis X- X is of smaller diameter than a second guide roller that is on the other side of the sheet material 3A and thus further away from the conveyance axis X-X (and the pair of guide rollers may form an ‘English wheel’ configuration).

[0118] The apparatus 1 comprises a drive 7 that, in use, is operable to urge the sheet material 3A to be fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4. In the present example, the drive 7 comprises an actuator 8 and first and second drive members 9A, 9B.

[0119] The actuator 8 may be an electric motor 8. The actuator 8 may be coupled to one or both of the drive members 9A, 9 B via a gearbox (not shown).

[0120] The first and second drive members 9A, 9B may be first and second drive rollers 9A,9B. The actuator 8 is configured to drive one or both of the first and second drive members 9 A, 9 B. This causes sheet material 3A located between the first and second drive members 8 to be drawn from the roll 3 of sheet material 3A and conveyed towards the guide members 5. Thus, operation of the drive 7 causes the sheet material 3A to advance about the conveyance axis X-X and in an axial direction ‘A’ along the conveyance axis X-X to form the elongate member too.

[0121] In the present example, the actuator 8 is configured to drive the first drive roller 9A in a first rotational direction (in a clockwise direction from the perspective of Fig. 1) and to drive the second drive roller 9B in an opposite second rotational direction (in an anticlockwise direction from the perspective of Fig. 1). This causes the sheet material

[0122] 3A located between the drive rollers 9A, 9B to be advanced towards the structure forming mechanism 4.

[0123] The drive 7 is therefore operable to vaiy the axial length ‘L’ of the elongate member too. That is, the more sheet material 3A that is fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4 due to operation of the drive 7, the greater the amount of sheet material 3A that is guided about the conveyance axis X-X and in the axial direction ‘A’ along the conveyance axis X-X to form the elongate member too and thus the greater the axal length ‘L’ of the elongate member too.

[0124] The structure forming mechanism 4 comprises a joining mechanism 10 that is configured to join a first portion 11A of the sheet material 3A to a second portion 11B of the sheet material 3A such that the sheet material 3A is retained in the form of the elongate member too. That is, the joining mechanism 10 is configured to prevent the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too unwinding after the sheet material 3A has been formed into the shape of the elongate member too. The first portion nA of the sheet material 3A is on an inner surface 15A of the sheet material 3A that is in proximity to a first longitudinal edge 3B of the sheet material 3A. The inner surface 15A of the sheet material 3A faces radially inwardly when the sheet material 3A is formed into the elongate member too. The inner surface 15A of the sheet material 3A may optionally form an interior surface of the elongate member too.

[0125] The second portion 11B of the sheet material 3A is on an outer surface 15B of the sheet material 3A that is in proximity to a second longitudinal edge 3C of the sheet material 3A that is opposite to the first longitudinal edge 3B. The outer surface 15B of the sheet material 3A faces radially outwardly when the sheet material 3A is formed into the elongate member too. The outer surface 15B of the sheet material 3A may optionally form an exterior surface of the elongate member too. The joining mechanism 10 is arranged to join the first and second portions 11A, 11B together once that sheet material 3A has been arranged into a loop of sheet material 3A that subtends about the conveyance axis X-X. In the present example, the joining mechanism 10 is located in proximity to the first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B. For example, the joining mechanism 10 could be arranged at, before, or after the first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B relative to the direction of conveyance of the sheet material 3A. However, it should be recognised that in other embodiments the joining mechanism 10 could be positioned differently, for example, in proximity to the third or fourth rollers 5C, 5D and optionally may join the first and second portions nA, 11B together once several loops of the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too have been formed.

[0126] When the sheet material 3A is arranged by the one or more guide members 5 to form the elongate member too, the first portion 11A of the sheet material 3A overlaps the second portion 11B of the sheet material 3A to form an overlapping region (shown by arrow ‘J’ in Figs. 6 and 7). The joining mechanism 10 then joins the first portion nA to the second portion 11B in the overlapping region ‘J’ such that the sheet material 3A is retained in the form of the elongate member too. Optionally, the join of the overlapping region ‘J’ forms a seal between the first and second portions nA, 11B to prevent the ingress of air or moisture out of the elongate member too. In one embodiment, the overlapping region ‘J’ is at least 5% of the width of the sheet material 3A measured in the first axial direction ‘A’ and, preferably, is at least 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45% or 50% of the width of the sheet material 3A. In one embodiment, the overlapping region ‘J’ is at most 50% of the width of the sheet material 3A measured in the first axial direction ‘A’ and, optionally, is at most 40%, 30% or 25% or 20% of the width of the sheet material 3A.

[0127] In some embodiments, the overlapping region ‘J’ is in the range of 5% to 50 % of the width of the sheet material 3A measured in the first axial direction ‘A’ and, preferably, is in the range of 10 % to 50% of the width of the sheet material 3A.

[0128] It should be recognised that the above examples of the size of overlapping region ‘J’ are examples only and that other sizes of overlap are possible.

[0129] The joining mechanism 10 comprises a heater 12 configured to heat the sheet material 3A. The heater 12 may be configured to melt at least one of the first and second portions 11A, 11B of the sheet material 3A such that said portion nA, 11B subsequently cools and solidifies to join the first and second portions 11A, 11B of the sheet material 3A.

[0130] In the present example, the sheet material 3A comprises a thermoplastic that is melted by the heater 12 and subsequently cools and solidifies to join the first and second portions 11A, 11B of the sheet material 3A.

[0131] The sheet material 3A may be a composite material. The sheet material 3A may comprise a reinforcement material and a matrix material. The reinforcement material may be, for example, pre-impregnated with the matrix material. The reinforcement material may be, for example, carbon fibre. The matrix material may be, for example, a thermoplastic or resin. The sheet material 3A may be a carbon-fibre reinforced polymer.

[0132] In the present example, the sheet material 3A is a carbon-fibre reinforced thermoplastic. In another example, the sheet material 3A may comprise a thermoplastic without carbon-fibre reinforcement. In the present example, the sheet material 3A comprises one or more susceptor regions (depicted by the chain-dashed feature 13 in Fig. 5) that are configured to be inductively heated by the heater 12. The heater 12 is configured to generate an electromagnetic field to inductively heat the susceptor region 13. For example, the heater 12 may comprise one or more coils of wire (not shown) connected to a current source (not shown), which may be an AC source. The one or more coils may be connected to a DC source (e.g. a batteiy or solar panel) via an inverter that generates an AC signal.

[0133] The susceptor region(s) 13 may extend continuously or intermittently along the length of the sheet material 3A. In the present example, the susceptor region 13 is adjacent the first longitudinal edge 3B of the sheet material 3A.

[0134] The susceptor region(s) 13 may be in the form of a mesh 13. The susceptor region(s) 13 may comprise, for example, a ferromagnetic material such as iron or steel. The susceptor region 13 may be embedded in the sheet material 3A or may be attached to a surface of the sheet material 3A by adhesive or during curing / cooling of the thermoplastic during manufacture of the sheet material 3A.

[0135] When the heater 12 is operated to inductively heat the susceptor region 13, the heat is transferred to the thermoplastic material of the sheet material 3A to melt the thermoplastic material in proximity to the susceptor region 13. The susceptor region 13 is located in proximity to the overlapping region ‘J’ of the first and second portions nA, 11B of the sheet material 3A. Therefore, the thermoplastic material is melted in the overlapping region ‘J’ and subsequently cools and solidifies such that a join is formed in the overlapping region ‘J’. That is, the thermoplastic material cools and solidifies once the sheet material 3A is formed into a loop, such that the sheet material 3A is retained as a loop. It should be recognised that the heater 12 may heat the sheet material 3A once it has been formed into a loop, or may heat the sheet material 3A prior to the sheet material 3A being formed into a loop.

[0136] In another example, the heater 12 is configured to inductively heat the carbon-fibre of the sheet material 3A. For instance, the heater 12 may be positioned in proximity to the overlapping region ‘J’ so that primarily the carbon-fibre of the sheet material 3A in the overlapping region ‘J’ is inductively heated. Therefore, the heater 12 also primarily heats the thermoplastic of the sheet material 3A in the overlapping region ‘J’ (and thus this subsequently cools to form a bond at the overlapping region ‘J’) and the remaining thermoplastic of the sheet material 3A is subjected to less or no heating.

[0137] In the present example, the heater 12 heats the thermoplastic material inductively. However, it should be recognised that in other embodiments (not shown), the heater may heat the thermoplastic material by other means, for example, conductively and / or radiatively. In one embodiment (not shown), the heater 12 comprises a conductive heat element (for example, a heated roller) that contacts the first portion nA of the sheet material 3A to heat the thermoplastic material. Alternatively, the heater 12 may contact the entire, or substantially the entire, inner surface 15A of the sheet material 3A but wherein thermoplastic material (or a suitable adhesive) is only applied over the first portion nA of the sheet material 3A. In some embodiments (not shown), the thermoplastic material (or suitable adhesive) is heated by a laser. In other embodiments (not shown), the heater 12 may be configured to heat the outer surface 15B of the sheet material 3A and / or the thermoplastic / adhesive may be applied to the outer surface 15B.

[0138] In some embodiments (not shown), the sheet material 3A comprises a thermoplastic strip / tape that is applied to the first portion nA of the sheet material 3A.

[0139] In the above embodiments, the heater 12 is configured to heat a thermoplastic material of the sheet material 3A such that a portion of the thermoplastic material at the overlapping region ‘J’ is melted and subsequently cools to form a join. In other embodiments, the sheet material 3A may comprise a heat activated adhesive (which may optionally be a thermoplastic) that, for example, may be applied to the entire inner surface 15A of the sheet material 3A or only over the first portion 11A of the sheet material 15A. Thermoplastic may be omitted from the sheet material 3A. In some embodiments, the apparatus 1 is configured to press the first and second portions 11A, 11B of the sheet material 3A towards each other to facilitate the joining of the first and second portions nA, 11B.

[0140] The first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B are arranged to press the overlapping region ‘J’ of the first and second portions nA, 11B of the sheet material 3A towards each other as the sheet material 3A passes between the rollers 5A, 5B. This helps to hold the first and second portions 11A, 11B together as the thermoplastic material cools and solidifies and thus improves the bond therebetween. However, it should be recognised that the apparatus 1 may alternatively, or additionally, comprise another roller (not shown) to press the overlapping region ‘J’ of the first and second portions 11A, 11B of the sheet material 3A against the third or fourth guide roller 5C, 5D or against another component of the apparatus 1 in order to squeeze the first and second portions 11A, 11B towards each other. Additionally, or alternatively, the apparatus 1 may comprise for example, a belt, a reciprocating member (for example, that repeatedly stamps / presses the overlapping region ‘J’ to press the first and second portions 11A, 11B together) or a static component to press the first and second portions nA, 11B of the sheet material 3A towards each other.

[0141] It should be recognised that in other embodiments (not shown) the apparatus 1 is not configured to press the first and second portions nA, 11B of the sheet material 3A towards each other to facilitate the joining of the first and second portions nA, 11B. For instance, the second guide member 5B may be omitted in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the first and second portions 11A, 11B of the sheet material 3A are not pressed together after the first portion 11A is heated by the heater 12. It should also be recognised that in some embodiments (not shown) the heater 12 does not melt the sheet material 3A to join the first and second portions 11A, 11B and instead the heat may, for example, cure an adhesive that is applied to the sheet material 3A. In yet another embodiment (not shown), the joining mechanism 10 does not comprise a heater 12. The first and second portions nA, 11B of the sheet material 3A may be joined together by, for example, an adhesive that is applied to the sheet material 3A in liquid form and dries / cures / cools to join the first and second portions 11A, 11B. The liquid adhesive may be applied by, for example, spraying, brushing, rolling or printing the adhesive onto the sheet material 3A. In the present example, the joining mechanism 10 is configured such that the overlapping region ‘J’ of the first and second portions 11A, 11B (which, in the present example, is joined by the solidified thermoplastic) subtends continuously about the conveyance axis X-X to form a hermetic seal. In the present example, the overlapping region ‘J’ that is joined by the solidified thermoplastic follows a substantially helical path about the conveyance axis X-X. The apparatus i further comprises a cutting device 16 that is configured to separate the elongate member too from the supply 3 of sheet material 3A. In the present example, the cutting device 16 is configured to cut the sheet material 3A to separate the elongate member too. The cutting device 16 may comprise, for example, one or more cutting blades, saws, knives or laser cutting devices (not shown).

[0142] Once the elongate member too has been separated from the supply 3 of sheet material 3A, the elongate member too may be used as a component in the construction of a space structure. For example, the elongate member too could be used as (or part of) a boom or mast for a satellite. The elongate member too may form a component of, for example, an antenna, payload sharing platform, space-based solar power system, or solar occultor (or other such shade provision device). The elongate member too may be used as a support or reinforcement (e.g. a truss or beam) in a space structure. Advantageously, the supply 3 of sheet material 3A can be transported to the space environment and then the longer and larger-volume elongate member too can be formed from the supply 3, wherein the supply 3 occupies a smaller volume and is shorter and therefore is easier and less expensive to transport. The diameter D of the elongate member too refers to the external diameter of the elongate member too.

[0143] The diameter D of the elongate member too may be at least 10 cm and, preferably, at least 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 cm. In some embodiments, the elongate member too may have a diameter D of at least 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 metres.

[0144] The diameter D of the elongate member too may be at most 5 metres and, preferably, at most 4, 3, 2, 1.5 or 1 metres. In some embodiments, the elongate member too may have a diameter D of at most 90 cm, 80 cm, 70 cm, 60 cm or 50 cm. The diameter D of the elongate member too may be in the range of 10 cm to 5 m and, preferably, in the range of 40 cm to 2 metres.

[0145] The axial length L of the elongate member too may be at least 0.5 metres and, preferably, maybe at least 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 or 50 metres. In some embodiments, the axial length L of the elongate member too may be in the range of 0.5 to 50 metres.

[0146] It should be recognised that the above diameters D and axial lengths L of the elongate member too are examples only and other dimensions of the elongate member too are possible.

[0147] The apparatus 1 comprises a base 17. The components of the apparatus 1 such as the supply mechanism 2, structure forming mechanism 4, drive 7, joining mechanism 10 and cutting device 16 are mounted to the base 17. In some embodiments, the base 17 is mounted to a spacecraft (not shown in the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8). The spacecraft may comprise the apparatus 1.

[0148] The structure forming mechanism 4 comprises first, second and third arms 18A, 18B, 18C that extend from the base 17. The first, second and third arms 18A, 18B, 18C may extend from the base 17 in different directions. The first, second and third arms 18A, 18B, 18C may extend in the same plane. The first, second, third and fourth guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D are mounted to the base 17, and optionally via one or more of the arms 18A, 18B, 18C.

[0149] The apparatus 1 further comprises a fourth arm 18D that extends from the base 17 and to which the supply mechanism 2 is connected. In particular, the holder 6 is connected to the fourth arm 18D such that the roll 3 is suspended on the fourth arm 18D. In the present embodiment, the or at least one of the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D is adjustable to adjust the size of the elongate member too that is produced by the structure forming mechanism 4. For example, the position of one or more of the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D relative to the base 17 may be adjustable to adjust the size of the elongate member too.

[0150] Each of the first, second and third arms 18A, 18B, 18C comprises a respective track 19A, 19B, 19C. The apparatus 1 further comprises an adjustment system 20 that is configured to move the first guide member 5A along the track 19A of the first arm 18A and also in a direction perpendicular to the track 19A, to move the third guide member 5C along the track 19B of the second arm 18B and to move the fourth guide member 5D along the track 19C of the third arm 18C. In the present example, the adjustment system 20 comprises a first adjustment mechanism 20A that is configured to move the first guide member 5A along the track 19A of the first arm 18A and also in a direction perpendicular to the track 19A, a second adjustment mechanism 20B that is configured to move the third guide member 5C along the track 19B of the second arm 18B, and a third adjustment mechanism 20C that is configured to move the fourth guide member 5D along the track 19C of the third arm 18C. In an alternative embodiment (not shown), the first and second guide members 5A, 5B do not change position relative to the first arm 18A, except that the first and second guide members 5A, 5B are each a roller 5A, 5B that rotates about a respective rotational axis. The track 19A of the first arm 18A facilitates pre-adjustment of the position of the first and second guide members 5A, 5B during assembly of the structure forming mechanism 4, and then the position of the first and second guide members 5A, 5B is fixed. For instance, the first and second guide member 5A, 5B may be bolted to the first arm 18A at one of various positions along the length of the first arm 18A. However, it should be recognised that in other embodiments (not shown), the track 19A of the first arm 18A may be omitted.

[0151] The first guide roller 5A may comprise a support element (not shown) that slidably engages the track 19A of the first arm 18A and a bearing (not shown) that rotatably couples the first guide roller 5A to the support element. The third guide roller 5C may comprise a support element (not shown) that slidably engages the track 19B of the second arm 18B and a bearing (not shown) that rotatably couples the third guide roller 5C to the support element. Similarly, the fourth guide roller 5D may comprise a support element (not shown) that slidably engages the track 19C of the third arm 18C and a bearing (not shown) that rotatably couples the fourth guide roller 5D to the support element. Each support element may be provided on a pair of rails (not shown) within the respective track 19B, 19C to permit sliding movement of the support element relative to the track 19B, 19C upon operation of the respective adjustment mechanism 20A, 20B.

[0152] The first adjustment mechanism 20A is operable to move the first guide member 5A in a first adjustment direction relative to the first arm 18A (shown by arrow ‘Bl’ in Fig. 4, in which the tracks 19A-C are omitted for illustrative purposes) and in a second adjustment direction relative to the first arm 18A (shown by arrow ‘B2’ in Fig. 4) such that the position of the first guide member 5A along the track 19A can be adjusted. In addition, the first adjustment mechanism 20A is operable to move the first guide member 5A in a third adjustment direction relative to the first arm 18A (shown by arrow ‘B3’ in Fig. 4) and in a fourth adjustment direction relative to the first arm 18A (shown by arrow ‘B4’ in Fig. 4) such that the position of the first guide member 5A in a direction perpendicular to the track 19A can be adjusted. The third adjustment direction ‘B3’ is generally in a direction away from the elongate member too. The fourth adjustment direction ‘B4’ is opposite to the third linear direction ‘B3’. The first and second adjustment directions ‘Bi’ and ‘B2’ are generally along the first arm 18A and are perpendicular to the second and third adjustment directions ‘B3’ and ‘B4’. In the present example, the first to fourth adjustment directions ‘Bl’ to ‘B4’ are linear.

[0153] The first adjustment mechanism 20A comprises a rotary motor (not shown) and a linear gear mechanism (not shown), for example, a rack and pinion gear, lead screw or a cam and follower configured to translate rotational movement of the motor into linear movement of the first guide member 5A relative to the second guide member 5B. Additionally, or alternatively, the first adjustment mechanism 20A may comprise, for example, a linear motor or a pneumatic or hydraulic drive that is configured to move the first guide member 5A in the first to fourth adjustment directions ‘Bl’ to ‘B4’.

[0154] The second adjustment mechanism 20B is operable to move the third guide member 5C in a fifth adjustment direction relative to the second arm 18B (shown by arrow ‘B5’ in Figs. 3 and 4) and in a sixth adjustment direction relative to the second arm 18B

[0155] (shown by arrow ‘B6’ in Figs. 3 and 4) such that the position of the third guide member 5C along the track 19B can be adjusted. The fifth adjustment direction ‘B5’ is generally in a direction away from the elongate member 100. The sixth adjustment direction ‘B6’ is opposite to the fifth linear direction ‘B5’. In the present example, the fifth and sixth adjustment directions ‘B5’ and ‘B6’ are linear.

[0156] The second adjustment mechanism 20B comprises a rotary motor (not shown) and a linear gear mechanism (not shown), for example, a rack and pinion gear, lead screw or a cam and follower configured to translate rotational movement of the motor into linear movement of the third guide member 5C. Additionally, or alternatively, the second adjustment mechanism 20B may comprise, for example, a linear motor or a pneumatic or hydraulic drive that is configured to move the third guide member 5C in the fifth and sixth adjustment directions ‘B5’ and ‘B6’.

[0157] The third adjustment mechanism 20C is operable to move the fourth guide member 5D in a seventh adjustment direction relative to the third arm 18C (shown by arrow ‘B7’ in Figs. 3 and 4) and in an eighth adjustment direction relative to the third arm 18C (shown by arrow ‘B8’ in Figs. 3 and 4) such that the position of the fourth guide member 5D along the track 19C can be adjusted. The seventh adjustment direction ‘B is generally in a direction away from the elongate member too. The eighth adjustment direction ‘B8’ is opposite to the seventh adjustment direction ‘B7’. In the present example, the seventh and eighth adjustment directions ‘B7’ and ‘B8’ are linear.

[0158] The third adjustment mechanism 20C comprises a rotary motor (not shown) and a linear gear mechanism (not shown), for example, a rack and pinion gear, lead screw or a cam and follower configured to translate rotational movement of the motor into linear movement of the fourth guide member 5D. Additionally, or alternatively, the third adjustment mechanism 20C may comprise, for example, a linear motor or a pneumatic or hydraulic drive that is configured to move the fourth guide member 5D in the seventh and eighth adjustment directions ‘B7’ and ‘B8’.

[0159] The adjustment system 20 is configured to move the first, third and fourth guide members 5A, 5C, 5D relative to the respective first, second and third arms 18A, 18B, 18C to adjust the diameter of the elongate member too. That is, the first adjustment mechanism 20A moves the first guide member 5A relative to the second guide member 5B in the first and third adjustment directions ‘Bl’ and ‘B3’ to increase the diameter of the elongate member too (whilst maintaining the same, or substantially the same, gap between the first and second guide members 5A, 5B) whilst the second adjustment mechanism 20B moves the third guide member 5C in the fifth adjustment direction ‘B5’ and the third adjustment mechanism 20C moves the fourth guide member 5D in the seventh adjustment direction ‘B7’ to increase the diameter of the elongate member too.

[0160] This is because such movement changes the relative position of the first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B and also causes the third and fourth guide members 5C, 5D to be spaced further from the conveyance axis X-X such that the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D guide the sheet material 3A around the conveyance axis X-X with a greater radius to the conveyance axis X-X. This is shown in Fig. 3, wherein the elongate member too has a relatively large diameter (shown by arrow ‘Di’). Similarly, the first adjustment mechanism 20A is operable to move the first guide member 5A relative to the second guide member 5B in the second and fourth adjustment directions ‘B2’ and ‘B4’ to decrease the diameter of the elongate member too (whilst maintaining the same, or substantially the same, gap between the first and second guide members 5A, 5B) whilst the second adjustment mechanism 20B is operable to move the third guide member 5C in the sixth adjustment direction ‘B6’ and the third adjustment mechanism 20C moves the fourth guide member 5D in the eighth adjustment direction ‘B8’ to decrease the diameter of the elongate member too. This is because such movement changes the relative position of the first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B and causes the third and fourth guide members 5C, 5D to be spaced closer to the conveyance axis X-X such that the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D guide the sheet material 3A around the conveyance axis X-X with a smaller radius to the conveyance axis X-X. This is shown in Fig. 4, wherein the elongate member too has a relatively small diameter (shown by arrow ‘D2’).

[0161] The or at least one of the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D is therefore adjustable to adjust the radius that the sheet material 3A is advanced about the conveyance axis X-X to adjust the diameter D of the elongate member too.

[0162] In the present example, one or more of the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D are moveable relative to the respective arms 18A, 18B, 18C. However, other embodiments (not shown), the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D may be fixed relative to the arms 18A, 18B, 18C and instead the arms 18A, 18B, 18C are moved relative to the base 17 to move the guide member(s) 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D and thus adjust the diameter of the elongate member too. For example, one or more of the arms 18A, 18B, 18C may be moved linearly by an adjustment system (not shown). In another embodiment, one or more of the arms 18A. 18B, 18C may be pivoted relative to the base 17 to adjust the position of the respective guide member(s) 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D and thus adjust the diameter of the elongate member too.

[0163] In the above embodiment, the adjustment system 20 comprises a first adjustment mechanism 20A configured to adjust the relative position of the first and second guide members 5A, 5B, a second adjustment mechanism 20B configured to adjust the position of the third guide member 5C and a third adjustment mechanism 20C configured to adjust the position of the fourth guide member 5D. However, in other embodiments (not shown), the adjustment system 20 may comprise two adjustment mechanisms or a single adjustment mechanism that is configured to move a plurality of the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D and, for example, may be configured to move the third and fourth guide members 5C, 5D. In a yet further embodiment (not shown), only the position of one of the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D is adjusted by the adjustment system 20 to vaiy the diameter of the elongate member too and the position of the other guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D may remain constant.

[0164] In the present embodiment, the elongate member too is in the form of a tube too. The tube too is generally cylindrical. The tube too has a constant diameter (shown by arrow ‘D’ in Fig. 7) along the axial length ‘L’ of the elongate member too. The tube too comprises a void 100A in the centre of the tube too. In some embodiments, the void 100A contains one or more components, for example, cables and / or pipes. The elongate member too may form a conduit for such cables and / or pipes.

[0165] The sheet material 3A may extend continuously between opposing axial ends of the elongate member too.

[0166] Although in the above described embodiment the elongate member too is of constant diameter ‘D’, in alternative embodiments (not shown) the diameter ‘D’ of the elongate member too may vary. For example, a first axial length section of the elongate member too may be a first diameter and then a second axial length section of the elongate member too may be a second diameter that is greater or less than the first diameter. To manufacture such a elongate member too, the sheet material 3A may be fed to the structure forming mechanism 4 to form the first axial length section of the elongate member too and then the adjustment system 20 is operated to move the first, third and fourth guide members 5A, 5C, 5D in the first, third, fifth and seventh adjustment directions ‘Bi’, ‘B3’, ‘B5’, ‘B7’ (to increase the diameter of the remainder of the elongate member too) or in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth adjustment directions ‘B2’, ‘B4’, ‘B6’, ‘B8’ (to decrease the diameter of the remainder of the elongate member too). In some embodiments, the diameter of the elongate member too is tapered between the first and second axial length sections of different diameter.

[0167] In the above described embodiment, the drive 7 is operable to rotate one or both of the first and second drive rollers 9A, 9B. In other embodiments (not shown), the drive 7 is operable to move one or more other components of the apparatus 1 in order to urge the sheet material 3A to be fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4. For example, the drive 7 may be operable to rotate at least one of the guide members 5 to urge the sheet material 3A to be fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4. The drive rollers 9A, 9B may therefore be omitted.

[0168] In yet further embodiments, the drive 7 is operable to rotate one or more components of the supply mechanism 2 to urge the sheet material 3A to be fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4. For example, the supply mechanism 2 may comprise a roll holder (for example, a bobbin 6) that receives the roll 3 of the sheet material 3A, and wherein the drive 7 is operable to rotate the roll holder 6 to urge the sheet material 3A to be fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4A. In the above described embodiment, the supply 3 is a roll 3 of sheet material 3A. However, in other embodiments (not shown), the supply 3 is other than roll. For example, the supply 3 may comprise folded sheet material 3A or sheet material 3A that is loosely gathered. In some embodiments, the actuator 8 of the drive 7, the joining mechanism 10, cutting device 16, first adjustment mechanism 20A, second adjustment mechanism 20B and third adjustment mechanism 20C are connected to a controller 21 (shown in Fig. 8). The controller 21 may be configured to control operation of the actuator 8 of the drive 7, joining mechanism 10, cutting device 16, first adjustment mechanism 20A, second adjustment mechanism 20B and third adjustment mechanism 20C.

[0169] Referring now to Fig. 9, another embodiment of an apparatus 101 for forming an elongate member too for use in a space environment is shown. The apparatus 101 is similar to the apparatus 1 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8, with like features retaining the same reference numerals. In this example, the elongate member too is an elongate member too.

[0170] A difference is that the apparatus 101 is configured such that the diameter ‘D’ of the elongate member too formed by the apparatus 101 is significantly larger than the diameter ‘D’ of the elongate member too formed by the apparatus 1 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8, or the apparatus 101 itself is made smaller relative to the structure too. The apparatus 101 comprises a structure forming mechanism 104 comprising a plurality of guide members 105A, 105B, 105C, 105D. The guide members 105A, 105B, 105C, 105D are configured to guide the sheet material 3A to advance about a conveyance axis (not shown in Fig. 9) and in an axial direction (not shown in Fig. 9) along the conveyance axis to form the elongate member too. In the present embodiment, the guide members 105A, 105B, 105C, 105D are configured to guide the sheet material 3A to advance about the conveyance axis and in a first axial direction along the conveyance axis such that the sheet material 3A follows a substantially helical path.

[0171] In the present example, the structure forming mechanism 104 comprises first and second guide members 105A, 105B that comprise a pair of first and second guide rollers 105A, 105B. The structure forming mechanism 104 further comprises third and fourth guide members 105C, 105D that comprise a pair of third and fourth guide rollers 105C, 105D. However, as with the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8, it should be recognised that the guide member 105A, 105B, 105C, 105D may take a different form and / or the structure forming mechanism 104 may comprise a different number of guide members. In use of the apparatus 101, the drive 7 is operated to feed sheet material 3A from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 104. The sheet material 3A travels between the pair of first and second guide rollers 105A, 105B. The first and second rollers 105A, 105B are arranged such that as the sheet material 3A exits the rollers 105A, 105B it curves in a direction generally towards the pair of third and fourth guide rollers 105C, 105D. In the present example, the first roller 105A has a larger diameter than the second roller 105B, which causes the sheet material 3A to follow a curved path (this may be referred to as an “English wheel” configuration).

[0172] The sheet material 3A then travels between the pair of third and fourth guide rollers 105C, 105D and is then directed towards the first and second guide rollers 105C, 105D to form a loop of sheet material 3A of the elongate member too. Continued operation of the drive 7 causes further sheet material 3A to be fed between the first and second guide rollers 105A, 105B and between the third and fourth guide rollers 105C, 105D such that the axial length of the elongate member too is increased. In another embodiment, the third and fourth guide rollers 105C, 105D are omitted. In another embodiment (not shown), an initial loop of the sheet material 3A may be formed after loading of the sheet material 3A into the supply mechanism 2 and before the apparatus 101 is transported to the space environment. That is, the structure forming mechanism 104 may be pre-loaded with the sheet material 3A. For example, an initial loop of the sheet material 3A may be formed by manipulating the sheet material 3A by hand or using one or more robots such that the sheet material 3A abuts each of the first, second, third and fourth guide members 105A, 105B, 105C, 105D and a loop is formed. Optionally, the joining mechanism 10, described below, may be operated to retain the initial loop of the sheet material 3A in position or a fastener (for example, a clamp, staple or portion of adhesive) may be used to retain the initial loop in position.

[0173] The apparatus 101 may then be transported to the space environment, and then the apparatus 101 operated such that sheet material 3A is fed from the supply 3 to the structure forming mechanism 104 to increase the axial length of the elongate member too and thus form the final configuration of the elongate member too.

[0174] The structure forming mechanism 104 comprises a joining mechanism 10 that is configured to join a first portion (not shown) of the sheet material 3A to a second portion (not shown) of the sheet material 3A such that the sheet material 3A is retained in the form of the elongate member too. That is, the joining mechanism 10 is configured to prevent the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too unwinding after the sheet material 3A has been formed into the shape of the elongate member too. The joining mechanism 10 may comprise, for example, a heater 12 that operates in a similar manner to the heater 12 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8 and may heat / melt a thermoplastic / adhesive of the sheet material 3A, which may also have any of the features of the sheet material 3A of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8.

[0175] The apparatus 101 further comprises a cutting device (not shown) that is configured to separate the elongate member too from the supply 3 of sheet material 3A. The cutting device may have any of the features of the cutting device 16 of the apparatus 1 of Figs. 1 to 8.

[0176] Once the elongate member too has been separated from the supply 3 of sheet material 3A, the elongate member too may be used as a component in the construction of a space structure. The diameter D of the elongate member too may be at least to cm and, preferably, at least 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 cm. In some embodiments, the elongate member too may have a diameter D of at least 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 metres. The diameter D of the elongate member too may be at most 5 metres and, preferably, at most 4, 3, 2, 1.5 or 1 metres. In some embodiments, the elongate member too may have a diameter D of at most 90 cm, 80 cm, 70 cm, 60 cm or 50 cm.

[0177] The diameter D of the elongate member too may be in the range of 10 cm to 5 m and, preferably, in the range of 40 cm to 2 metres.

[0178] The axial length L of the elongate member too may be at least 5 metres and, preferably, maybe at least 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, too or 150 metres. In some embodiments, the axial length L of the elongate member too may be in the range of 5 to 150 metres.

[0179] It should be recognised that the above diameters D and axial lengths L of the elongate member too are examples only and other dimensions of the elongate member too are possible.

[0180] In the embodiment shown in Fig. 9, the guide members 105A, 105B, 105C, 105D are each rotatably mounted to a fixed location on the guide arms 18A, 18B and the diameter D of the elongate member too is not adjustable. However, in other embodiments (not shown) the apparatus 101 may comprise an adjustment system (not shown) that is configured to adjust the position of one or more of the guide members 105A, 105B, 105C, 105D to adjust the diameter D of the elongate member too that is produced by the structure forming mechanism 104. For example, the adjustment system may have any of the features of the adjustment system 20 of the apparatus 1 of Figs. 1 to 8. In one embodiment (not shown), the diameter D of the elongate member too may be gradually decreased as the elongate member too is formed such that the elongate member too has a cone or dome shape or truncated cone or dome shape. In one embodiment, one (or both) of the first and second rollers 105A, 105B may be swapped with alternative rollers of a different diameter to vary the diameter of the elongate member too. For instance, the second roller 105B may be swapped with a different roller that has a smaller diameter to decrease the diameter of the elongate member too that is to be formed. The roller may be swapped, for example, by a robotic arm (not shown) of the apparatus tot.

[0181] Referring now to Fig. to, another embodiment of an apparatus 201 for forming an elongate member too for use in a space environment is shown. In this example, the elongate member too is an elongate hollow structure too. An example of a portion of an elongate member too produced by the apparatus 201 is shown in Fig. 11.

[0182] The apparatus 201 is similar to the apparatus of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8, with like features retaining the same reference numerals.

[0183] A difference is that the apparatus 201 further comprises a layer provision mechanism 202 configured to provide a layer of material no that is arranged on the inside of the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too, although in an alternative embodiment the layer provision mechanism 202 is configured to provide a layer of material no that is arranged on the exterior of the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too.

[0184] The layer of material no may be a sealing layer no configured to hermetically seal the inside of the wall 100B of the elongate member too or at least a portion of the inside of the wall 100B of the elongate member too. However, in other embodiments (not shown) the layer of material no may alternatively, or additionally, be configured to thermally insulate the wall 100B of the elongate member too or to electromagnetically shield the wall 100B of the elongate member too. The layer provision mechanism 202 is configured to receive a supply 210 of a second sheet material no, which in the present embodiment is a roll 210 of the second sheet material no. The second sheet material no is fed from the supply 210 and provided to the interior or exterior of the elongate member too. The second sheet material no may be conveyed about the interior or exterior of the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too after the elongate member too has been formed. In another embodiment, the second sheet material no may be supplied as the elongate member too is formed from the sheet material 3A such that the second sheet material no moves in the first axial direction A as the sheet material 3A is advanced. For instance, an end of the second sheet material no may be attached to the sheet material 3A once a loop of the sheet material 3A has been formed, such that further movement of the sheet material 3A in the first axial direction A about the conveyance axis X-X also draws the sheet material no in the first axial direction A. The sheet material no may be attached to the sheet material 3A by being fed by the drive 7 to an adhesive region on the sheet material 3A or may be, for example, welded to the sheet material 3A or otherwise adhered thereto. As another example, the sheet material no may be positioned on the sheet material 3A (before or after the elongate member too has been formed) using a robotic arm, one or more rollers, or one or more conveyance belts.

[0185] In embodiments wherein the overlapping region ‘J’ of the elongate member too forms a hermetic seal, the layer of material no provides an additional sealing protection between the inside of the elongate member too and the space environment.

[0186] Alternatively, the overlapping region ‘J’ may not completely seal the inside of the elongate member too, in which case the layer of material no optionally provides the hermetic seal between the space environment and the inside of the elongate member too. However, it should be recognised that in other embodiments the interior of the elongate member too is not hermetically sealed.

[0187] In some embodiments, the layer of material no is a sheet of material that circumscribes the conveyance axis to completely surround the conveyance axis. The ends of the sheet material no may overlap to form a seal such that the layer of material no is generally cylindrical. In some embodiments, one or both ends of the layer of material no may be sealed. For example, one end of the layer of material no may be sealed to form a cup-shape. In another example, both ends of the layer of material no may be sealed such that the layer of material no completely encloses a space within the layer of material no.

[0188] In another embodiment (not shown), the layer of material no may be sprayed on to the interior or exterior of the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too. The layer provision mechanism 202 may comprise a spray device (not shown) that is configured to spray the layer of material no (for example, in liquid or powder form) onto the sheet material 3A to form the layer of material no.

[0189] In another embodiment, a layer of material may be integral with the sheet material 3A. The roll 3 of sheet material 3A may already comprise the layer of material. Another example of an elongate member too is shown in Fig. 12. In this example, the layer of material no is a bladder no. The bladder no may be formed from a flexible material, for example, a flexible polymer such as rubber. The bladder no may be inflatable. In some embodiments, the bladder no may comprise an enclosed space. One or both ends of the bladder no may be sealed. The layer provision mechanism 202 may be configured to position the bladder no within the elongate member too after the elongate member has been formed from the sheet material 3A. Alternatively, the layer provision mechanism 202 may be configured to provide the bladder no as the elongate member too is formed from the sheet material 3A such that the bladder no moves in the first axial direction A as the sheet material 3A is advanced. The layer provision system mechanism 202 may comprise, for example, a robotic arm, one or more rollers, or one or more conveyance belts.

[0190] In some embodiments, the bladder no may have one or more sealable or resealable openings (not shown) to allow objects and / or people to enter or exit the bladder no. The opening may comprise an airlock. The airlock may be pre-manufactured and attached to the bladder no. The airlock may be part of a panel that is attached to the bladder no to provide a means of entering / exiting the bladder no.

[0191] The layer of material no may be flexible. In some embodiments, the layer of material no comprises a multi-layer insulation. The insulation may take any suitable form and may comprise, for example, composite foams or dual density foam layers.

[0192] The layer of material no may be attached to the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too, for example, using an adhesive. In other embodiments, the layer of material no is not attached to the sheet material 3A. In one such embodiment, the layer of material no is an inflatable bladder no, wherein inflation of the bladder no causes the bladder no to be pressed against the inside of the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too such that the bladder no is retained in position relative to the sheet material 3A.

[0193] Referring now to Fig. 13, another embodiment of an apparatus 301 for an elongate member too for use in a space environment is shown. In the present example, the elongate member too is an elongate member too. The apparatus 301 is similar to the apparatus 1 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8, with like features retaining the same reference numerals. The apparatus 301 is configured to produce the elongate member too shown in Fig. 14. A difference is that the apparatus 301 is configured such that the apparatus 301 further comprises a second sheet supply mechanism 302 configured to receive a supply 303 of second sheet material 303A. In the present example, the supply 303 of second sheet material 303A is a roll 303A. The second sheet material 303A may have any of the features of the sheet material 3A discussed above and, in the present example, is a carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic. The sheet materials 3A, 303A may be the same or different.

[0194] In the present example, the second sheet material 303A is an inner sheet material 303A that is provided radially inwardly of the sheet material 3A of the wall 100B. However, in another embodiment (not shown), the second sheet material 303A is instead provided externally of the sheet material 3A.

[0195] The second sheet material supply mechanism 302 may operate in a similar manner to, and may have any of the features of, the supply mechanism 2 described above in relation to the apparatus 1 of Figs. 1 to 8.

[0196] The apparatus 301 is configured such that, in use, the second sheet material 303A is fed from the second sheet supply mechanism 302 to the structure forming mechanism 4. The one or more guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D are configured to guide the second sheet material 303A to advance about the conveyance axis X-X and in the first axial direction A to be on the inside of the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too. That is, the second sheet material 303A is located radially inwardly towards the conveyance axis X-X relative to the sheet material 3A.

[0197] The apparatus 301 optionally further comprises a layer provision mechanism 202 configured to provide a layer of material no that is arranged on the inside of the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too. The layer provision mechanism 202 operates in a similar manner to that of the apparatus 201 of Fig. 10. In another embodiment (not shown), the sheet materials 3A, 303A may abut each other and the layer of material no may be provided on the interior of the second sheet material 303A and, optionally, may comprise an inflatable bladder no and / or thermal insulation and / or radiation shielding. In another embodiment, the layer provision mechanism 202 is omitted. In some embodiments, the sheet material 3A and second sheet material 303A abut each other and the layer of material no is omitted.

[0198] The apparatus 301 is configured such that the elongate member too comprises a circumferential wall 100B with the sheet material 3A forming an exterior of the wall 100B, the second sheet material 303A forming an interior of the wall 100B, and the layer of material no being located between the sheet material 3A and second sheet material 303A.

[0199] The inner sheet material 303A therefore improves the strength of the elongate member too and / or provides an additional hermetic seal and / or thermal insulation and / or radiation shielding between the interior of the elongate member too and the space environment. In embodiments wherein the layer of material no is provided between the sheet materials 3A, 303A, the layer of material no is configured to provide a seal and / or thermal insulation and / or radiation shielding and / or to reinforce the elongate member too. In one such embodiment, the layer of material no itself comprises multilayer insulation. In some embodiments, the layer of material no separates at least a portion of the sheet material 3A from at least a portion of the second sheet material 303A.

[0200] In the present example, the structure forming mechanism 4 comprises first and second guide members 5A, 5B that comprise a pair of first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B. The structure forming mechanism 4 further comprises third and fourth guide members 5C, 5D that comprise third and fourth guide rollers 5C, 5D. The guide rollers 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D operate in a similar manner to those of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8, but instead guide all of the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A about the conveyance axis X-X and in the axial direction A. In the present example, the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A all follow a helical path. However, as with the embodiments of Figs. 1 to 12, it should be recognised that the guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D may take a different form and / or the structure forming mechanism 4 may comprise a different number of guide members. In the present example, the apparatus 303 is configured such that the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A are collected together to form a collation 310 of layers that are guided together about the conveyance axis X-X and in the first axial direction A.

[0201] In use of the apparatus 301, the drive 7 is operated to feed sheet material 3A from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4, to feed the layer of material no from the supply 210 to the structure forming mechanism 4 and to feed the second sheet material 303A from the supply 303 to the structure forming mechanism 4. In the present example, the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A are all fed between the same pair of drive rollers 9A, 9B that are rotated by the actuator (not shown) to advance the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A together as a collation 310 of layers. However, in other embodiments (not shown) different drives may be provided to advance each of the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A. The sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A travels between the pair of first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B. The first and second rollers 5A, 5B are arranged such that as the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A exits the rollers 5A, 5B it curves in a direction generally towards the third guide roller 5C. The sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A is then guided by the third guide roller 5C towards the fourth guide roller 5D, and is then guided by the fourth guide roller 5D back to the first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B to form a loop of the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A that forms part of the elongate member too. Continued operation of the drive 7 causes further sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A to be fed between the first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B, to the third guide roller 5C, fourth guide roller 5D and then back to the pair of first and second guide rollers 5A, 5B such that the axial length of the elongate member too is increased. In another embodiment (not shown), an initial loop of at least one of, or all of, the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and / or second sheet material 303A may be manually formed after loading of the sheet material 3A into the supply mechanism

[0202] 2.

[0203] The structure forming mechanism 4 comprises a joining mechanism 10 that is configured to join a first portion (not shown) of the collation 310 of layers to a second portion (not shown) of the collation 310 of layers such that the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A is retained in the form of the elongate member 100. That is, the joining mechanism to is configured to prevent the sheet material 3A, layer of material no and second sheet material 303A of the elongate member too from unwinding and / or separating after being formed into the shape of the elongate member too. The joining mechanism 10 may comprise, for example, a heater 12 that operates in a similar manner to the heater 12 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8 and may heat / melt a thermoplastic / adhesive of the sheet material 3A or second sheet material 303A, either or both of which may also have any of the features of the sheet material 3A of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8. In some embodiments (not shown), the joining mechanism 10 comprises a first heater 12 that heats the sheet material 3A and a second heater (not shown) that heats the second sheet material 303A. In other embodiments, a single heater heats both of the sheet materials 3A, 303A, or instead only one of (or neither of) the sheet materials 3A, 303A is heated.

[0204] In the present example, a portion of an inner surface of the inner sheet material 303A overlaps a portion of an outer surface of the sheet material 3A and is attached thereto by the joining mechanism 10.

[0205] The apparatus 301 further comprises a cutting device (not shown) that is configured to separate the elongate member too from the supply 3 of sheet material 3A, the supply 210 of layer of material no and the supply 303 of second sheet material 303A. The cutting device may have any of the features of the cutting device 16 of the apparatus 1 of Figs. 1 to 8.

[0206] Once the elongate member too has been separated from the supplies 3, 210, 303, the elongate member too may be used as a component in the construction of a space structure. In some embodiments, the elongate member too could be used as (or part of) a boom or mast for a satellite. The elongate member too may be form a component of, for example, an antenna, payload sharing platform, space-based solar power system, or solar occultor. The elongate member too may be used as a support or reinforcement (e.g. a truss or beam) in a space structure.

[0207] The additional layers of material no and inner sheet material 303A may help to provide additional sealing and / or thermal insulation from the space environment. Referring now to Figs. 15 to 18, another embodiment of an apparatus 401 for forming an elongate member too for use in a space environment is shown. The apparatus 401 is similar to the apparatus of the embodiment of Figs, i to 8, with like features retaining the same reference numerals. In the present example, the elongate member too is an elongate member too. A difference is that the apparatus 401 is not configured to cut the elongate member too after the elongate member too has been formed from the sheet material 3A, and instead the elongate member too remains attached to deploy a payload 402 and retain the payload 402 in position. The apparatus 401 is a payload deployment apparatus. In the present example, the payload 402 is a solar array 402. The solar array 402 comprises a first group of a plurality of solar panels 411 and a second group of a plurality of solar panels 412. The first group of solar panels 411 are arranged on a first side of the elongate member too and the second group of solar panels 412 are arranged on a second side of the elongate member too. The first group of solar panels 411 are hingedly connected in a concertina arrangement and the second group of solar panels 412 are hingedly connected in a concertina arrangement. The solar panels 411, 412 are configured to generate electrical power when exposed to solar energy.

[0208] The apparatus 401 comprises a supply mechanism 2 and structure forming mechanism 4 that may operate in a similar manner to any of the previous embodiments. In the present example, a drive 7 is operated to feed sheet material 3A from a supply 3 to one or more guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D of the structure forming mechanism 4. The guide members 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D are configured to guide the sheet material 3A to advance about the conveyance axis X-X and in the first axial direction A along the conveyance axis X-X to form the elongate member too.

[0209] The structure forming mechanism 4 comprises a joining mechanism 10 that is configured to join a first portion (not shown) of the sheet material 3A to a second portion (not shown) of the sheet material 3A such that the sheet material 3A is retained in the form of the elongate member too. The joining mechanism 10 may comprise, for example, a heater 12 that operates in a similar manner to the heater 12 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8 and may heat / melt a thermoplastic / adhesive of the sheet material 3A, which may also have any of the features of the sheet material 3A of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8. The payload 402 is coupled to the sheet material 3A. Therefore, when the sheet material 3A is advanced in the first axial direction A due to operation of the drive 7, the payload 402 is also moved in the axial direction A. Therefore, the payload 402 can be moved from an initial position (shown in Fig. 15) to a deployed position (shown in Fig. 16).

[0210] The payload 402 is coupled to the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too via a coupling 404. The coupling 404 comprises a first part 405 that is fixed relative to the sheet material 3A. For example, the first part 405 may be adhered (or welded or secured using fasteners) to the inside or outside surface of the sheet material 3A at the end of the elongate member too. The first part 405 may be adhered to an end of the sheet material 3A when the sheet material 3A has been formed into a first loop of the elongate member too. In the present example, the first part 405 is generally tubular and is received within an end of the elongate member too. However, it should be recognised that in other embodiments the first part 405 may comprise a space that receives an end of the elongate member too such that the first part 405 is located on the exterior of the elongate member too and is attached thereto.

[0211] The coupling 404 comprises a second part 406 that is fixed relative to the payload 402. The form of the second part 406 will depend on the type of payload 402 that is to be deployed by the apparatus 401. In the present example, the second part 406 comprises a central hub 407 and first and second arms 408, 409 that extend from the central hub

[0212] 407. The first arm 408 is connected to a first end 411A of the first group of solar panels 411 and the second arm 409 is connected to a first end 412A of the second group of solar panels 412.

[0213] The coupling 404 further comprises a bearing 410 that couples the first and second parts 405, 406 together such that the second part 406 can rotate relative to the first part 405. Therefore, when the first part 405 rotates about the conveyance axis X-X due to movement of the sheet material 3A about the conveyance axis X-X to form the elongate member too, the second part 406 does not co-rotate and therefore the arms

[0214] 408, 409 and payload 402 do not rotate about the conveyance axis X-X. This allows for the payload 402 to be deployed without unwanted twisting of the payload 402. In the present example, the apparatus 401 is part of a spacecraft (not shown). The spacecraft comprises a panel 420, which may be an exterior panel 420 of the spacecraft. The panel 420 has an aperture 421. The apparatus 401 is configured such that, in use, the elongate member too extends through the aperture 421 in the panel 420. The base 17 of the apparatus 410 may be mounted to the interior or exterior of the panel 420 of the spacecraft or to another component of the spacecraft or other space structure.

[0215] The apparatus 401 optionally further comprises a second coupling 404B that couples the payload 402 to the panel 420 of the spacecraft. In other embodiments (not shown), the second coupling 404B couples the payload 402 to another component of the spacecraft.

[0216] The second coupling 404B comprises first and second arms 413, 414. The first arm 413 of the second coupling 404B is connected to a second end 411B of the first group of solar panels 411 and the second arm 414 of the second coupling 404B is connected to a second end 412B of the second group of solar panels 412.

[0217] The apparatus 401 is transported with the payload 402 in the initial position, as shown in Fig. 15. In the initial position, the solar panels 411, 412 of the solar array 402 are folded together such that the solar panels 411, 412 occupy a relatively small amount of space and are easier to transport. Once the apparatus 401 has been transported to the space environment, the drive 7 is operated such that the sheet material 3A is fed from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4 to form the elongate member too. Continued operation of the drive 7 increases the length of the elongate member too such that an end of the elongate member too moves in the first axial direction A and thus the coupling 404 also moves in the first axial direction A. The movement of the coupling 404 in the first axial direction causes the distance between the coupling 404 and second coupling 404B to be increased such that the solar panels 411, 412 of the solar array 402 unfold to the deployed position shown in Fig. 16. The elongate member too supports the first and second groups of solar panels 411, 412. The apparatus 401 is therefore a deployment mechanism for a payload 402. The apparatus 401 may be configured to deploy a single or multiple payloads 402 that may be mounted to the elongate member too. In the above described embodiment the payload 402 is a solar array. However, in other embodiments (not shown) the payload 402 may be of a different form. For example, the payload 402 may be one or more of an antenna, sensor, transmitter / receiver, or propulsion system.

[0218] In the above described embodiment, the payload 402 is coupled to the spacecraft via a second coupling 404B such that the payload 402 is stretched out as the payload 402 is deployed. That is, the second end 411B of the first group of solar panels 411 and the second end 412B of the second group of solar panels 412 are coupled to the panel 420 of the spacecraft via the second coupling 412. However, in other embodiments the second coupling 412 is omitted such that the entire payload 402 moves together with the first coupling 404 as the length of the elongate member too increases. The payload 402 may therefore move away from the spacecraft to the deployed position.

[0219] In the above described embodiment, the second part 406 of the coupling 404 is rotatable relative to the first part 405 such that rotation of the first part 405 with the elongate member too about the conveyance axis X-X does not cause a corresponding rotation of the second part 406 and the payload 402 attached thereto (or at least the rotation of the payload 402 is less than the rotation of the elongate member too). This relative rotational movement may be achieved by a bearing 407 or by another component that, for example, slides relative to the elongate member too as the elongate member too rotates about the conveyance axis X-X during operation of the drive 7. However, in other embodiments (not shown), the bearing 407 may be omitted and, for example, the entire coupling 404 may rotate together with the elongate member too about the conveyance axis X-X during operation of the drive 7. Referring now to Fig. 19, another embodiment of an apparatus 501 for forming an elongate member too for use in a space environment is shown. The apparatus 501 is similar to the apparatus 401 of the embodiment of Figs. 15 to 18, with like features retaining the same reference numerals. In the present example, the elongate member too is an elongate member too.

[0220] The apparatus 501 comprises a supply mechanism 2 and structure forming mechanism 4 that may operate in a similar manner to any of the previous embodiments. In the present example, a drive (not shown) is operated to feed sheet material 3A from a supply 3 to one or more guide members (not shown) of the structure forming mechanism 4. The guide members are configured to guide the sheet material 3A to advance about the conveyance axis X-X and in a first axial direction At along the conveyance axis X-X to form the elongate member too.

[0221] The structure forming mechanism 4 comprises a joining mechanism (not shown) that is configured to join a first portion (not shown) of the sheet material 3A to a second portion (not shown) of the sheet material 3A such that the sheet material 3A is retained in the form of the elongate member too. The joining mechanism may comprise, for example, a heater (not shown) that operates in a similar manner to the heater 12 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8 and may heat / melt a thermoplastic / adhesive of the sheet material 3A, which may also have any of the features of the sheet material 3A of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8.

[0222] As with the apparatus 401 of Figs. 15 to 18, one or more payloads 402A, 402B, 402C are coupled to the sheet material 3A of the elongate member too such that operation of the drive (not shown) to advance the sheet material 3A in the first axial direction Al deploys the one or more payloads 402A, 402B, 402C. In the present example, first, second and third payloads 402A, 402B, 402C are attached to the elongate member too. The first payload 402A is a reaction control system 402A, the second payload 402B is a sensor 402B and the third payload 402C is a solar panel 402C. However, it should be recognised that each of the payloads 402A, 402B, 402C may take any appropriate form.

[0223] For example, the payload 402 may be one or more of an antenna, sensor, transmitter / receiver, or propulsion system. One or more of the payloads 402A, 402B, 402C may be omitted or further payloads (not shown) may be provided. In the present embodiment, the payloads 402A, 402B, 402C are each attached to the sheet material 3A as the sheet material 3A is fed to the structure forming mechanism 4 or as the sheet material 3A is fed about the conveyance axis X-X, such that the payloads 402A, 402B, 402C are deployed in the first axial direction Al upon operation of the drive. In other embodiments, the payloads 402A, 402B, 402C may be attached to the elongate member too after the elongate member too has been formed. The payloads 402A, 402B, 402C maybe attached, for example, using a robotic arm. In another embodiment, one or more of the payloads 402A, 402B, 402C may be pre-attached to the sheet material 3A (for example, prior to transportation into space). The apparatus 501 further comprises a second supply mechanism 502 and second structure forming mechanism 504. The second supply mechanism 502 and second structure forming mechanism 504 operate in a similar manner to the supply mechanism 2 and structure forming mechanism 4, and thus a detailed description thereof will not be repeated herein. The second supply mechanism 502 is configured to receive a supply 503 of second sheet material 503A. In the present example, the supply 503 of second sheet material 503A is a roll 503. The second sheet material 503A may have any of the features of the sheet material 3A discussed above and, in the present example, comprises a carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic. The sheet material 3A and second sheet material 503A may be the same or different. The second supply mechanism 502 may operate in a similar manner to, and may have any of the features of, the supply mechanism 2 described above in relation to the apparatus 1 of Figs. 1 to 8.

[0224] The second structure forming mechanism 504 is configured such that, in use, the second sheet material 503A is fed from the second supply mechanism 502 to the second structure forming mechanism 504.

[0225] The second structure forming mechanism 504 comprises one or more guide members (not shown) configured to guide the second sheet material 503A to advance about a second conveyance axis Z-Z and in a second axial direction A2 to form a second elongate member too’. In the present example, the second elongate member too’ is a second elongate member too’.

[0226] In the present example, the second structure forming mechanism 504 comprises guide members that are guide rollers (not shown). The guide members operate in a similar manner to those of any of the previously described embodiments and may have any of the features thereof. In the present example, the second sheet material 503A follows a helical path as it is fed about the second conveyance axis Z-Z by the guide rollers. The second structure forming mechanism 504 comprises a joining mechanism (not shown) that is configured to join a first portion (not shown) of the second sheet material 503A to a second portion (not shown) of the second sheet material 503A such that the second sheet material 503A is retained in the form of the second elongate member too’. The joining mechanism may comprise, for example, a heater (not shown) that operates in a similar manner to the heater 12 of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8 and may heat / melt a thermoplastic / adhesive of the second sheet material 503A, which may also have any of the features of the sheet material 3A of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 8.

[0227] In use of the apparatus 501, the drive (not shown) is operated to feed sheet material 3A from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4. This causes the sheet material 3A to be advanced from the supply 3 and guided by the guide members (not shown) such that the sheet material 3A is conveyed about the conveyance axis X-X and advanced in the first axial direction At to form the elongate member too. Furthermore, a second drive (not shown) is operated to feed the second sheet material 503A from the second supply mechanism 502 to the second structure forming mechanism 504. This causes the second sheet material 503A to be advanced from the supply 503 and guided by the guide members (not shown) of the second structure forming mechanism 504 such that the second sheet material 503A is conveyed about the second conveyance axis Z-Z and advanced in the second axial direction A2 to form the second elongate member too’.

[0228] The apparatus 501 is therefore configured to form two elongate members too, too’.

[0229] This is advantageous because two smaller supplies 3, 503 of sheet material 3A, 503A can be used to produce the same total overall axial length of the elongate members too, too’ in combination in comparison to using one larger supply 3 of sheet material 3A to form a single larger elongate member too. Furthermore, the elongate members too, too’ can be extended in different directions and / or can be extended simultaneously. In the present example, a distal end 100C’ of the second elongate member too’ is configured to be attached to a spacecraft (not shown) or other space structure. This means that the payload(s) 402A, 402B, 402C attached to the first elongate member too are spaced from the spacecraft by the elongate members too, too’. The elongate members too, too’ may together form a boom / beam.

[0230] In another embodiment (not shown), one or more payloads (not shown) may additionally, or alternatively, be attached to the second sheet material 503A of the second elongate member too’. In some embodiments, the or each payload is attached to the second sheet material 503A as the second sheet material 503A is fed to the second structure forming mechanism 504 or as the second sheet material 503A is fed about the second conveyance axis Z-Z, such that the payloads are deployed in the second axial direction A2 upon operation of the second drive. In other embodiments, the payloads may be attached to the second elongate member too’ after the second elongate member too’ has been formed. The payloads may be attached, for example, using a robotic arm.

[0231] In some embodiments, the conveyance axis X-X and second conveyance axis Z-Z extend in opposite directions such that the first axial direction Al that the elongate member too is advanced along extends in the opposite direction to the second axial direction A2 that the second elongate member too’ is advanced along. That is, the conveyance axis X-X and second conveyance axis Z-Z may extend at substantially 180 degrees to each other. In other embodiments, the conveyance axis X-X and second conveyance axis Z-Z may extend at a different angle to each other, for example, between o and 180 degrees and, in one such example, approximately 90 degrees to each other.

[0232] In one embodiment (not shown), the conveyance axis X-X and second conveyance axis Z-Z co-extend from the same side of the spacecraft, such that the elongate member 100 and second elongate member 100’ co-extend.

[0233] In the above described embodiment, a first drive is operable to advance the sheet material 3A from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4 and a second drive is operable to advance the second sheet material 503A from the second supply mechanism 502 to the second structure forming mechanism 504. However, in other embodiments (not shown) a single drive may be operated to advance both the sheet material 3A and second sheet material 503A. In one such example, the sheet material 3A and second sheet material 503A may be mounted to a single roll holder / bobbin.

[0234] Referring to Fig. 20, an embodiment of an assembly apparatus 1000 for assembling a component of a spacecraft 1002, an example of which is shown in Fig. 30, in space is shown. The assembly apparatus 1000 may be configured to complete assembly of itself once it has been delivered into space in a partially assembled state. The assembly apparatus 1000 may also be configured to assemble at least components of other spacecraft 1002 once the assembly apparatus 1000 is fully assembled. The assembly apparatus 1000 may also be configured to carry out repairs on itself or other spacecraft. The assembly apparatus 1000 comprises a core platform 1003 and a mobile platform 1004. The mobile platform 1004 comprises an end effector 1005 which in the present embodiment is a robotic manipulator, shown in Fig. 22. The robotic manipulator 1005 is configured to cariy out an assembly task on a spacecraft 1002 or a component of a spacecraft 1002, including the assembly apparatus 1000, as will be described in more detail hereinafter. It will be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, the end effector 1005 may be, for example, but not limited to a device capable of performing at least one of the following operations: manipulation, joining, 3D printing, cutting, forming, etc..

[0235] The mobile platform 1004 is connected to the core platform 1003 by a tether 1006. The core platform 1003 comprises a body 1007 and one or more truss 1008 extending from the body 1007. In the present example, the core platform 1003 comprises first to sixth trusses ioo8a-f extending from the body 1007.

[0236] Each truss 1008 of the first to sixth trusses ioo8a-f comprises a distal end 1009 spaced from the body 1007 of the core platform 1003. The tether 1006 connects the mobile platform 1004 to the body 1007 via the distal end 1009 of the truss 1008. One function of the tether 1006 is to prevent the mobile platform 1004 being lost into space in the event of a malfunction which reduces space debris. The trusses ioo8a-f are shown in Fig. 20 in the deployed state. However, in order to fit within a launch vehicle (not shown), one or more of the trusses 1008 is formed after the assembly apparatus 1000 has been launched into space.

[0237] The assembly apparatus 1000 includes first to sixth apparatus toota-f that are each configured to manufacture a respective elongate member 1008 that forms a respective one of the trusses ioo8a-f. Each elongate member 1008 may be an elongate hollow structure too. Each truss ioo8a-f is thus deployable upon operation of the respective apparatus toota-f for forming the elongate member 1008. Each truss 1008 is an elongate hollow structure 1008 that may have any of the features of the hollow structures too, too’ described above.

[0238] Each apparatus toota-f for forming the hollow truss ioo8a-f is similar to the apparatus 1 for forming the elongate member too described above in reference to Figs. 1 to 8, with like features retaining the same reference numerals. Each apparatus tooia-f for forming the truss ioo8a-f comprises a supply mechanism 2 and a structure forming mechanism 4. The supply mechanism 2 and structure forming mechanism 4 operate in a similar manner to those of the previously described embodiments, and thus a detailed description will not be repeated herein.

[0239] The first apparatus 1001a is shown in Fig. 31. However, the second to sixth apparatuses looib-f have similar features (the apparatuses looia-f are shown schematically in Fig. 32). The supply mechanism 2 of each apparatus looia-f is configured to receive a supply 3 of sheet material 3A. In the present example, the supply 3 of sheet material 3A is a roll 3. The sheet material 3A may have any of the features of the sheet material 3A of the previous embodiments discussed above and, in the present example, is a carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic.

[0240] The structure forming mechanism 4 of each apparatus looia-f is configured such that, in use, the sheet material 3A is fed from the sheet supply mechanism 2 of the respective apparatus looia-f to the structure forming mechanism 4. The structure forming mechanism 4 of each apparatus looia-f comprises one or more guide members (not shown) configured to guide the sheet material 3A to advance about a respective conveyance axis and in an axial direction to form a elongate member that is in the form of the respective truss ioo8a-f. The structure forming mechanism 4 of the first apparatus 1001a guides the sheet material 3A about a first conveyance axis X1-X1 and in a first axial direction Al to form the first truss 1008a. Similarly, the second to sixth apparatuses looib-f each comprises a structure forming mechanism (not shown) that guides the sheet material about a second conveyance axis X2-X2, third conveyance axis X3-X3, fourth conveyance axis X4-X4, fifth conveyance axis X5-X5 and sixth conveyance axis X6-X6 respectively and in a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth axial direction A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 respectively to form the respective hollow trusses ioo8b-f (see Fig. 32).

[0241] In the present example, each second forming mechanism 4 comprises guide members that are guide rollers (not shown). The guide rollers operate in a similar manner to those of any of the previously described embodiments. In the present example, the sheet material 3A follows a helical path as it is fed about the respective conveyance axis X1-X1, X2-X2, X3-X3, X4-X4, X5-X5, X6-X6 by the guide rollers.

[0242] Each structure forming mechanism 4 comprises a joining mechanism 10 that is configured to join a first portion (not shown) of the sheet material 3A to a second portion (not shown) of the sheet material 3A such that the sheet material 3A is retained in the form of the truss 1008. The joining mechanism may comprise, for example, a heater 12 that operates in a similar manner to the heater 12 of the embodiment of Figs.

[0243] 1 to 8 and may heat / melt a thermoplastic / adhesive of the sheet material 3A.

[0244] In use of the apparatus 1001, the drive (not shown) of each apparatus toota-f is operated to feed sheet material 3A from the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4. This causes the sheet material 3A to be advanced from the supply 3 and guided by the guide members (not shown) such that the sheet material 3A is conveyed about the conveyance axis X1-X1, X2-X2, X3-X3, X4-X4, X5-X5, X6-X6 and advanced in the axial direction Al to A6 to form a elongate member that is in the form of a truss ioo8a-f.

[0245] Each apparatus toota-f for forming the elongate member 1008 (i.e. the truss 1008) is mounted to the main body 1007 of the core platform 1003. Therefore, each truss ioo8a-f is extended from the main body 1007 of the core platform 1003 when the assembly apparatus 1000 is in space by operating the apparatus 1001 for forming the elongate member 1008 such that the sheet material 3A thereof is moved in the respective axial direction Al, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6.

[0246] In the present example, each apparatus toota-f is mounted to the interior of the main body 1007. However, in other embodiments, each apparatus toota-f maybe mounted to the exterior of the main body 1007 or to another component of the assembly apparatus 1000.

[0247] The assembly apparatus 1000 further comprises an actuator ton. In Fig. 20, the actuator ton is shown located at the distal end 1009 of the respective truss 1008. However, in an alternative embodiment, the actuator ton may be located in a different position on the assembly apparatus 1000. For example, in one embodiment, the actuator ton may be located in the mobile platform 1004, as shown in Fig. 22. In another example, the actuator ion may be located in the body 1007 of the core platform 1003.

[0248] In each embodiment, the actuator toil is configured to vary the length of the tether 1006 extending between the distal end 1009 of the respective truss 1008 and the mobile platform 1004. Preferably, the assembly apparatus 1000 comprises an actuator 1011 for each tether 1006. The length of the tether 1006 is used to determine the position of the mobile platform 1004 relative to the body 1007 of the core platform 1003, as will be explained in more detail hereinafter.

[0249] The actuator 1011 may comprise a motor 1012 configured to rotate a spindle 1013 about which a tether 1006 can be wound and unwound. By driving the motor 1012 so that the tether 1006 is wound about the spindle 1013, the length of the tether 1006 extending between the core platform 1003 and the mobile platform 1004 can be reduced. By driving the motor so that the tether 1006 is unwound from the spindle, the length of the tether 1006 extending between the core platform 1003 and the mobile platform 1004 can be increased.

[0250] In the present embodiment, the assembly apparatus 1000 comprises a plurality of trusses ioo8a-f. Optionally, each truss ioo8a-f may be a hollow structure 1008. The present embodiment also comprises a plurality of tethers ioo6a-f. Preferably, the assembly apparatus 1000 comprises at least as many tethers ioo6a-f as it does trusses ioo8a-f. Additionally, the spacecraft assembly apparatus 1000 preferably comprises an actuator toiia-f associated with each truss ioo8a-f, that is, at least one actuator toiia-f per truss ioo8a-f, so that each of the at least one tether ioo6a-f associated with a truss ioo8a-f is actuated by an actuator toiia-f that is independent of actuators toiia-f associated with other trusses ioo8a-f. Therefore, the assembly apparatus 1000 may comprise an actuator toiia-f for each tether ioo6a-f. In this way, the mobile platform 1004 can be moved in a greater number of directions and can move over a larger area, as will be explained in more detail hereinafter. In some embodiments, the distal end tooga-f of each truss ioo8a-f is configured to receive at least one of the plurality of tethers ioo6a-f to connect the mobile platform 1004 to the core platform 1003.

[0251] In addition to the body 1007, the core platform 1003 comprises a coupling element 1015. The coupling element 1015 is connected to and extendable from the body 1007 such that the coupling element 1015 may be spaced from the body 1007 of the core platform 1003.

[0252] Preferably, a tether ioo6a-f is coupled to the distal end looga-f of each truss ioo8a-f by a coupling element totsa-f. That is, the assembly apparatus 1000 comprises at least one tether ioo6a-f coupled to the distal end tooga-f of each truss ioo8a-f by a coupling element totsa-f. Furthermore, each tether ioo6a-f is coupled at one end to an actuator toiia-f, as previously mentioned, and is connected at its other end to an anchor point ioi6a-f on the core platform 1003, either on the body 1007 or on a truss ioo8a-f, or on the mobile platform 1004. More than one tether ioo6a-f per truss ioo8a-f may be used to provide redundancy for the assembling apparatus 1000. In addition, to provide further redundancy, each tether ioo6a-f on the same truss ioo8a-f may have its own actuator toiia-f. In the embodiment, shown in Fig. 20 the coupling element 1015 for the respective tether 1006 is on the distal end 1009 of the truss 1008. However, in the present embodiment, the coupling element 1015 is formed by the actuator ton. That is, the actuator ton is located at the distal end 1009 of the truss 1008 and is connected to the tether 1006. Thus, each of the tethers 1006 only extend between an actuator ton at the distal end 1009 of a truss 1008 and an anchor point 1016 on the mobile platform 1004.

[0253] However, it will be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, when the actuator ton is located on the body 1007 of the core platform 1003, the coupling element 1015 may comprise a pulley (not shown) configured to provide a pivot or turning point for a tether 1006 which extends between the actuator ton on the body 1007 of the core platform 1003 and the mobile platform 1004. Thus, in such an embodiment, a tether 1006 would extend from the body 1007 of the core platform 1003 along the truss 1008 to the coupling element 1015 at the distal end 1009 of the truss 1008 and then back to the mobile platform 1004. In another alternative embodiment, in which the actuator ton is located on the mobile platform 1004 of the assembly apparatus 1000, as shown most clearly in Fig. 22, the anchor point 1016 may either be on the body 1007 of the core platform 1003 with a coupling element 1015 at the distal end 1009 of the truss 1008 or the anchor point 1016 may be the coupling element 1015 at the distal end 1009 of the truss 1008, as shown in Fig. 22. An advantage of having the actuator ion or the anchor point 1016 at the coupling element 1015, i.e. having the actuator 1011 or the anchor point 1016 at the distal end 1009 of the truss 1008, is that it reduces the length of the tether 1006 that is required by the assembly apparatus 1000.

[0254] The coupling element 1015, whether formed by an actuator toil, an anchor point 1016, or pulley, may be capable of rotating to face coupling element 1015 on the end of other trusses 1008 to facilitate movement of the mobile platform 1004. That is, the coupling element 1015 may be rotatable so that the tether 1006 which extends between the coupling element 1015 and the mobile platform 1004 is able to extend in a straight line.

[0255] This helps to avoid the tether 1006 scraping against the edge of the actuator 1011 or pulley 1107 as the tether 1006 is wound and / or unwound from the spindle 1013 and so reduces wear of the tether 1006. The coupling element 1015 of each truss 1008 defines a workspace 1018 in which the mobile platform 1004 can operate or perform a task such as assembling a component to be connected to itself, assembling a component for another spacecraft, repairing a component of an existing spacecraft, and / or manufacturing a component. The workspace 1018 is defined by the coupling elements 1015, which form the vertices of the workspace 1018, and the straight line between adjacent coupling elements 1015. The coupling element 1015 and the straight lines between them define the workspace 1018 because they represent the limits to which the actuators ton on the trusses 1008 can move the mobile platform 1004. The larger the number of trusses 1008, the larger the area of the workspace 1018 for a given length of truss 1008.

[0256] As shown in Fig. 20, the core platform 1003 of the assembly apparatus 1000 of the presently described embodiment is a central body 1021. Furthermore, each of the plurality of trusses ioo8a-f extends outwardly from the central body 1021. In the present embodiment, each of the trusses ioo8a-f extends radially outwards from the central body 1021 when viewed from above and are equally spaced about the longitudinal axis Y of the central body 1021. Each truss ioo8a-f shown in Fig. 20 extends in a straight line so that the coupling elements 1015 form the vertices of a hexagon, thus defining a hexagonal workspace 1018. The central body 1021 comprises side walls 1022. The side walls 1022 are arranged around the longitudinal axis Y of the central body 1021. In the present embodiment, each side wall 1022 has a truss 1008 extending therefrom. As shown in Fig. 20, the present embodiment of the assembly apparatus 1000 comprises six trusses ioo8a-f which extend from the six side walls 1022 of the central body 1021 in the radial direction. Therefore, the central body 1021 has a hexagonal cross-section with six side walls 1022. Each truss ioo8a-f may be a hollow structure 1008.

[0257] However, it will be appreciated that in an alternative embodiment, the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003 of the assembly apparatus too may have a different number of side walls 1022 and therefore a different shaped cross-section. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that the number of trusses ioo8a-f may be different to the above described embodiment. It will also be apparent that the number of trusses 1008 may be different to the number of side walls 1022 of the central body 1021.

[0258] In the present embodiment, the mobile platform 1004 also comprises a body 1023 formed by six side walls 1024. Thus, the body 1023 of the mobile platform 1004 has a hexagonal cross section. In Fig. 20, the tethers 1006 are anchored at an anchor point 1016 on vertices 1025 of the mobile platform 1004. However, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments, the anchor point may be on the side wall 1024 of the mobile platform 1024.

[0259] The mobile platform 1004 is moved around within the workspace 1018 by operating the actuators ton on the distal end 1009 of each truss 1008 independently from one another. Therefore, whilst some of the actuators ton are winding their associated tether 1006 about the spindle 1013 of the actuator ton, other actuators ton maybe unwinding the associated tether 1006 from their spindle 1013 in order to allow movement of the mobile platform 1004. As a result, by varying the length of the tethers 1006 between the distal ends of the trusses 1008 and the mobile platform 1004 independently using separate actuators ton, the mobile platform 1004 can be placed at any desired position within the workspace 1018.

[0260] For example, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 20, the mobile platform 1004 has been moved from its starting position in the centre of the workspace 1018 to the position shown. With respect to Fig. 20, the features such as the tether 1006, trusses 1008, and actuators ton are described generally and the description may refer to each specific tether ioo6a-f, truss ioo8a-f and actuator toiia-f, denoted by letters a to f starting with the feature at the top of the page and moving clockwise for subsequent features. In order to move the mobile platform 1004 into the position shown in Fig. 20 from its starting central position, the first actuator 1011a and sixth actuator lonf must drive their motors 1102a, ioi2f so that the length of the tethers 1006a, ioo6f extending between the actuators 1011a, lonf at the coupling elements 1015a, loisf on the distal ends 1009a, loogf of the first and sixth trusses 1008a, ioo8f is reduced. As the mobile platform 1004 is placed closer to the distal end 1009a of the first truss 1008a than the distal end loogf of the sixth truss ioo8f, the length of the first tether 1006a between the distal end 1009a of the first truss 1008a and the mobile platform 1004 is less than the length of the sixth tether ioo6f between the distal end loogf of the sixth truss ioo8f and the mobile platform 1004.

[0261] Furthermore, as the mobile platform 1004 has been positioned slightly towards the left side of the assembly apparatus 1000, the length of the second tether 1006b between the distal end 1009b of the second truss 1008b and the mobile platform 1004 is greater than the length of the sixth tether ioo6f between the distal end loogf of the sixth truss ioo8f and the mobile platform 1004. Therefore, it is clear that positioning the mobile platform 1004 within the workspace 1018 is achieved by operating the actuators 1011 independently to achieve different lengths of tether 1006 extending from each distal end 1009 of each truss ioo8a-f.

[0262] It will be appreciated that for the mobile platform 1004 to have been moved from its central starting position to the position shown in Fig. 20 that the second, third, fourth and fifth actuators 1011b, 1011c, loud, lone must unwind their tethers 1006b, 1006c, ioo6d, ioo6e from their spindles 1013b, 1013c, 1013d, 1013c to allow the length of the tethers 1006b, 1006c, ioo6d, ioo6e between the distal ends 1009b, 1009c, loogd, 1009c of the second, third, fourth, and fifth trusses 1008b, 1008c, ioo8d, ioo8e to be increased. The tethers 1006 may be unwound from their spindles 1013 by driving the motors 1012 in the opposite direction to the direction the motors 1012 are driven to wind the tethers 1006 onto the spindles 1013. Alternatively, the force of the other motors 1012 winding their tethers 1006 in may be used to unwind the wound tethers 1006.

[0263] Preferably, only the minimum length of tether 1006 required extends between the distal end 1009 of the truss 1008 and the mobile platform 1004 to allow the mobile platform 1004 to be moved into any given position. That is, the tethers 1006 may be kept taut. This enables the tethers 1006 to accurately place the mobile platform 1004 and ensures that small adjustments have an instant effect on the position of the mobile platform 1004. It also allows the mobile platform 1004 to be kept in the same plane when moving around the workspace 1018 and prevents rotation of the mobile platform.

[0264] Referring now to Figs. 21 and 22, perspective views of the assembly apparatus too in its undeployed state are shown, with the tethers 1006 omitted for clarity. Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in Figs. 21 and 22, the actuators ton can be seen to be located in side walls 1024 of the mobile platform 1004.

[0265] As previously mentioned, the coupling element 1015 is connected to and extendable from the body 1007 such that the coupling element 1015 may be spaced from the body

[0266] 1007 of the core platform 1003. That is because before and during launch the trusses

[0267] 1008 are yet to be deployed. Therefore, as shown in Figs. 21 and 22, before the trusses 1008 are deployed, only the coupling elements 1015 are located outside of the body

[0268] 1007. The sheet material 3A of each apparatus toota-f is attached to each coupling element 1015 such that as the respective trusses 1008 are formed and move in the respective axial direction Al to A6, then the coupling elements 1015 are moved further from the body 1007.

[0269] The mobile platform 1004 is located in its starting position in which it is located during launch or when an assembly process is about to begin or has finished. The starting position of the mobile platform 1004 is above the body 1007 of the core platform 1003. Once the assembly apparatus too is in space, the trusses ioo8a-f of the core platform 1003 must be formed by the respective apparatus toota-f.

[0270] Each apparatus toota-f for forming an elongate member 1008 is operated to form a respective one of the trusses ioo8a-f. That is, a first apparatus 1001a is operated to form truss 1008a. This means that the drive of the first apparatus 1001a is operated to advance sheet material 3A form the supply mechanism 2 to the structure forming mechanism 4 such that the sheet material 3A is guided about the first conveyance axis X1-X1 and in the first axial direction Al. This causes the elongate member 1008a (i.e. the first truss 1008a) to be formed and deployed. The coupling element 1015a may be pre-attached to an end of the sheet material 3A such that when the elongate member 1008a is formed the coupling element 1015a is located at the end of the elongate member 1008a, i.e. at the end of the first truss 1008a. The assembly apparatus 1000 further comprises second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth apparatuses tootb-f, which are configured to form the second to sixth trusses ioo8b-f respectively. Each truss ioo8b-f is an elongate member. The second to sixth apparatus tootb-f each operate in the same manner as the first apparatus 1001a, comprising a supply mechanism (not shown) and a structure forming mechanism (not shown). Sheet material is fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism of each apparatus upon operation of a drive, wherein one or more guide members guides the sheet material about a conveyance axis X2-X2 to X6-X6 and in an axial direction A2 to X6 along the conveyance axis to form a respective truss ioo8b-f.

[0271] In other embodiments, one or more of the trusses ioo8a-f may be permanent rather than deployable, or may not comprise an elongate member, such that one or more of the first to sixth apparatuses toota-f for forming elongate members may be omitted.

[0272] As a truss ioo8a-f is deployed, the actuator ton associated with that truss 1008 unwinds its tether 1006 from the spindle 1013 so that the mobile platform 1004 may remain in its central starting position proximate to the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003.

[0273] In an alternative embodiment (not shown), the assembly apparatus 1000 comprises an apparatus for forming elongate members and which comprises a cutting device. The apparatus is configured to form an elongate member, which is then separated from the remaining sheet material using the cutting device (which may have any of the features of the cutting device 16 described above in relation to the apparatus of Figs. 1 to 8). The elongate member forms a truss ioo8a-f that is then be attached to the mobile platform 1004. This process can be repeated to produce further trusses ioo8a-f which are then attached to the mobile platform 1004 until the required workspace 18 has been created. Therefore, one apparatus can be provided to sequentially form each of the trusses ioo8a-f.

[0274] Referring to Fig. 21, the assembly apparatus 1000 further comprises a storage compartment 1031. The storage compartment 1031 is configured to store structural elements 1032 of a component of a spacecraft to be assembled and / or repaired, as will be described in more detail hereinafter. In the present embodiment, the storage compartment 1031 is located radially outside of the side walls 1022 of the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003. As shown in Fig. 21, the storage compartment 1031 is made up of sections iO33a-iO33f which surround the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003. Each section 1033 of the storage compartment 1031 is configured to store structural elements 1032 to be placed proximate to the corresponding truss 1008 extending from the side wall 1022 proximate to which the section 1033 of the storage compartment 1031 is located. However, it will be appreciated that the sections 1033 of the storage compartment 1031 may vaiy in number and do not have to surround the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003.

[0275] The storage compartment 1031 is located on the opposite side of the trusses 1008 to the mobile platform 1004 so that the storage compartment 1031 and structural elements 1032 stored therein do not inhibit or obstruct movement of the mobile platform 1004 around the workspace 1018. However, an end 1034 of the storage compartment 1031 is located such that it is within reach of the robotic manipulator 1005 of the mobile platform 1004 when the mobile platform 1004 is above the storage compartment 1031 in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis Y of the central body 1021. Referring to Fig. 22, it can be seen that the anchor point 1016 on the coupling element

[0276] 1015 is located at the distal end 1009 of the respective truss ioo8a-f. The anchor point

[0277] 1016 is located at a distance from the centre of the truss 1008. That is, the anchor point 1016 is located at a distance from the axis of the truss 1008 in the direction of the longitudinal axis Y of the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003. This is because the coupling element 1015 comprises a projection 1036 having a free end 1037. The anchor point 1016 is located on the projection 1036. In the present embodiment, the projection 1036 extends parallel to the longitudinal axis Y of the central body 1021.

[0278] More specifically, the anchor point 1016 is located at the free end 1037 of the projection 1036. The anchor point 1016 being located at the end 1037 of the projection 1036 raises the mobile platform 1004 above the trusses 1008 so that the mobile platform 1004 can be move freely about the workspace 1018 without contacting the trusses 1008.

[0279] Referring briefly now to Fig. 23, the embodiment of the assembly apparatus 1000 described above can be seen in perspective view with its trusses 1008 fully deployed and the tethers 1006 shown. It can be seen that the projection 1037 allows the tethers 1006 and therefore mobile platform 1004 to be held clear of the trusses 1008 to allow unhindered movement of the mobile platform 1004 about the workspace 1018.

[0280] In Fig. 23, the assembly apparatus 1000 has partially completed assembly of a component of a spacecraft. It can be seen that the mobile platform 1004 has been moved around the workspace 1018 to position a number of structural elements 1032 around the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003. In the present embodiment, the structural elements 1032 are hexagonal to maximise the use of space and are shown in Fig. 23 in solid blocks.

[0281] Fig. 23 also shows the workspace 1018 in dotted lines which give an example of the potential positions in which further structural elements 1032 can be placed by the mobile platform 1004. In the present embodiment, the trusses 1008 extend radially from the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003 and all extend in the same plane. Therefore, the workspace 1018 of the mobile platform 1004 is planar, i.e. 2D, as is the array of structural elements 1032 that are positioned by the mobile platform 1004.

[0282] Referring now to Figs. 24 to 29, a method of assembling a component of a spacecraft 1002 using the assembly apparatus 1000 described above will be discussed briefly.

[0283] Fig. 25 shows a zoomed in perspective view of a method step for assembling a component of a spacecraft 1002 using the assembly apparatus 1000 after the assembly apparatus 1000 has been launched from earth in a launch vehicle and placed into its predetermined position in space. Furthermore, the method step show in Fig. 24 occurs after the trusses 1008 have been formed by the respective apparatuses toooa-f.

[0284] The step illustrated in Fig. 24 is adjusting the length of the tethers 1006 extending between the mobile platform 1004 and the distal end 1009 of the trusses 1008 to position the mobile platform 1004 proximate to the body 1007, 1021 of the core platform 1003. More specifically, each of actuators ton is actuated to either wind the associated tether 1006 around the spindle 1013 or to unwind the associated tether 1006 from the spindle 1013 in order to position the mobile platform 1004 to the body 1007, 1021 of the core platform 1003. As shown in Fig. 24, the actuators ton are actuated such that the mobile platform 1004 is placed close enough to the body 1007, 1021 of the core platform 1003 to enable the robotic manipulator 1005 to reach a structural element 1032 stored in the storage compartment 1031. As shown in Fig. 25, when the mobile platform 1004 is correctly placed proximate to the storage compartment 1031, the robotic manipulator 1005 is extended towards a structural element 1032. The robotic manipulator 1005 may comprise a grabbing mechanism 1041 on its free end which is configured to take hold of the structural element 1032. The robotic manipulator 1005 is then retracted to remove the structural element 1032 from the storage compartment 1031.

[0285] Referring now to Fig. 26, each actuator ton is again actuated to vary the length of the tethers 1006 between the mobile platform 1004 and the distal ends 1009 of the trusses 1008 in order to position the mobile platform 1004 in a specific position relative to the body 1007, 1021 of the core platform 1003. The specific position of that the mobile platform 1004 is moved into by the actuators ton may be predetermined. For example, the mobile platform 1004 may be moved to a safe distance to perform the next step or may be moved into position to place the structural element 1032 in its final position.

[0286] Referring to Fig. 27, the structural element 1032 that is held by the robotic manipulator 1005 is opened up from its stored state into it deployed state. This may be actuated by the robotic manipulator 1005 or by the structural element 1032 itself.

[0287] In the present embodiment, the structural element 1032 comprises a tile 1043 of a sparse phased-array antenna 1044, shown in Fig. 30. Each tile 1043 comprises a deployable structure similar to an umbrella. A tile 1043 may comprise a dipole 1046 and electronic circuits 1047 in its centre. Furthermore, the tile 1043, or any other structural element 1032, may comprise a mechanical link 1048 at each vertex 1049. The mechanical link 1048 is configured to connect neighbouring tiles together and tiles to the trusses 1008.

[0288] Referring to Fig. 28, when the mobile platform 1004 is in the correct position relative to the body 1007, 1021 of the core platform 1003, the robotic manipulator 1005 extends to precisely position the structural element 1032, or tile 1043, in its correct position relative to the truss 1008 and any other structural elements 1032, or tiles 1043, that have already been placed in their assembled position. When the tile 1043 is positioned in its correct assembled position by the robotic manipulator 1005, the mechanical link 1048 secures the tile 1043 to adjacent tiles 1043 and / or the adjacent truss(es) 1008. Fig. 29, shows top view of the mobile platform 1004 placing a tile 1043 into its assembled position.

[0289] The method of assembling is repeated until or the structural elements 1032, or tiles 1043, have been placed in their correct positions to make a fully assembled component of a spacecraft 1002, or as discussed in this example sparse phased array antenna, as shown in Fig. 30.

[0290] Although the previous embodiments of the assembly apparatus 1000 have been described in relation to a two-dimensional or planar workspace 1018, it will be appreciated that the assembly apparatus 1000 may be configured such that the workspace 1018 is three-dimensional. That is, the mobile platform 1004 can be moved in all three dimensions. To achieve this, the trusses 1008 may extend in different planes to create a workspace 1018 of the mobile platform 1004 which is three-dimensional and can be used to construct three-dimensional arrays with the assembly apparatus 1000.

[0291] Furthermore, in some embodiments, a three-dimensional array maybe constructed whilst using trusses 1008 which extend in the same plane.

[0292] Referring to Fig. 33, a further embodiment of the assembly apparatus 1000 is shown. The embodiment of the assembly apparatus 1000 shown in Fig. 33 is generally the same as the embodiment of the assembly apparatus shown in Figs. 20 to 32 and so a detailed description will be omitted. Furthermore, similar features and components of the assembly apparatus 1000 will retain similar terminology and reference numbers. The main difference between the embodiment of the assembly apparatus 1000 shown in Figs. 20 to 32, and the embodiment of the assembly apparatus in Fig. 33 is that the trusses 1008 of the present embodiment do not all extend in the same plane. Referring to the schematic side view of the assembly apparatus 1000 shown in Fig. 33, a truss 1008 extends from the side wall 1022 of the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003.

[0293] The truss 1008 comprises a first section 1051 and a second section 1052. The first section of the truss 1008 forms an inboard section of the truss 1008 which extends from the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003. The first section 1051 of each truss 1008 is an elongate member 1008 that is formed by an apparatus toota-f of the type described previously. Each elongate member 1008 may be an elongate hollow structure 1008. That is, sheet material 3A is advanced about a conveyance axis and in a first axial direction to form the elongate member which forms a first section 1051 of the truss 1008. The second section 1052 of the truss 1008 may be pre-formed (for example, before transport to the space environment) and attached to the first section 1051 such that when the first section 1051 is formed by the respective apparatus toota-f, the second section 1052 is advanced in the axial direction and into the position shown in Figs- 33 and 34. In other embodiments, the second section may also comprise an elongate member, for example, an elongate hollow structure. The elongate member may also be formed by one of the apparatuses toota-f and then attached to the respective first section 1051.

[0294] The second section 1052 of the truss 1008 forms an outboard section of the truss which extends from a distal end 1053 of the first section 1051 of the truss 1008. The first section 1051 of the truss 1008 extends from the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003 at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis Y of the central body 1021. Therefore, the distal end 1053 of the first section 1051 of the truss 1008 is raised from the perpendicular plane in which the trusses 1008 of the previous embodiment of the assembly apparatus 1000 extend. The second section 1052 of the truss 1008 extends at an acute angle to the first section 1051 of the truss 1008. This creates a section of the truss 1008 with a steeper angle compared to the angle created by the inclination of the first section 1051 of the truss 1008. It will be understood that in some embodiments, the inclination of the first and second sections 1051, 1052 of the truss 1008 will be the same, that is, their longitudinal axis will be parallel, and that in some embodiments, the second section 1052 of the truss 1008 will be omitted.

[0295] As shown in Fig. 33, each of the trusses 1008 of the assembly apparatus 1000 may comprises the inclined sections 1051, 1052. This enables the distal ends 1009 of the trusses 1008 to be spaced by a greater distance in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis Y from the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003. However, the workspace 1018 of the mobile platform 1004 is still planar due to the tethers 1006 being connected to the distal end 1009 of the trusses 1008 at the anchoring point 1016 which forms the coupling element 1015. In such an embodiment, the components of a spacecraft 1002 assembled by the assembly apparatus 1000 can still be built in three dimensions due to the reach of the robotic manipulator 1005. For example, as shown in Fig. 33, a sparse phased array antenna 1044 can be constructed having a parabolic shape by extending the gripping mechanism 1041 by different distances from the mobile platform 1004 when placing individual tiles 1043 in their positions. For example, tiles 1043 placed proximate to the periphery of the workspace 1018 require the least extension of the robotic manipulator 1005, whereas tiles 1043 placed at the centre of the workspace 1018 require the largest extension of the robotic manipulator 1005.

[0296] In some instances, the length of the trusses 1008 and thus size of the components of the spacecraft 1002, or antenna 1044, may be so large that the robotic manipulator 1005 cannot extend the distance required to place structural elements 1032, or tiles 1043, proximate to the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003.

[0297] Therefore, as shown in Fig. 34, in order to move the mobile platform 1004 close enough to the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003, the assembly apparatus 1000 may further comprise an additional tether 1056. The additional tether 1056 extends between the main central body 1021 of the core platform 1003 and the mobile platform 1004. The additional tether 1056 is connected at one end to an additional actuator 1057. The additional actuator 1057 is configured to vary the length of the additional tether 1056 extending between the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003 and the mobile platform 1004. By driving the motor 1012 of the additional actuator 1057 to wind the additional tether

[0298] 1056 around the spindle 1013 of the additional actuator 1057, the mobile platform 1004 can be pulled towards the central body 1021 of the core platform 1003 and away from the plane in which each of the distal ends 1009 of the trusses 1008 are located. Therefore, the workspace 1018 of the mobile platform 1004 can be made three dimensional. That is, the mobile platform 1004 can be moved in three dimensions to assemble a spacecraft 1002, or antenna 1044.

[0299] Referring briefly to Fig. 35, another use of the assembly apparatus 1000 is depicted. As shown, the assembly apparatus 1000 may be used to deploy and manage payload elements 1061a - io6id. In such an embodiment, the assembly apparatus 1000 may comprise at least one truss 1008 to which payloads 1061 can be connected. The truss 1008 may comprise a first section 1051 to which payloads can be connected and a second section 1052 extending at an angle to the first section 1051 which provides an anchor point 1016 for a tether 1006.

[0300] The first section 1051 of each truss 1008 is an elongate member 1008 that is formed by an apparatuses toota-f for forming elongate members of the type described previously. Each elongate member 1008 may be an elongate hollow structure 1008. That is, sheet material 3A is advanced about a conveyance axis and in a first axial direction to form the hollow structure which forms a first section 1051 of the truss 1008. The second section 1052 of the truss 1008 may be pre-formed (for example, before transport to the space environment) and attached to the first section 1051 such that when the first section 1051 is formed by the respective apparatus toota-f, the second section 1052 is advanced in the axial direction and into the position shown in Fig. 35. In other embodiments, the second section may also comprise an elongate member, for example, an elongate hollow structure. The elongate member may also be formed by one of the apparatuses toota-f and then attached to the respective first section 1051.

[0301] The payloads 1061 may be moved along the at least one truss 1008 in a similar way to which the tiles 1043 described above are deployed. That is, the mobile platform 1004 is positioned above a payload, for example payload 1061c, and the robotic manipulator 1005 is actuated to take hold of the payload 1061c. The actuators 1011 can then be actuated to move the mobile platform 1004 to its new position to reconnect the payload to the truss 1008.

[0302] Referring now to Fig. 36, a block diagram illustrating a method 2000 of forming an elongate member for use in a space environment is shown. The method 2000 comprises a first step (Si) of feeding sheet material from a supply of sheet material to one or more guide members. The method 2000 further comprises a second step (S2) of using the one or more guide members to guide the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form the elongate member. In some embodiments, the elongate member is an elongate hollow structure. In some embodiments, the apparatus 1, 101, 201, 301, 401, 501, looia-f optionally comprises a line supply mechanism 3000 configured to supply one or more lines 3001 to the elongate member too, too’ and, optionally, which may be an elongate hollow structure(s) too, too’. The or each line 3001 may be a cable 3001. The cable 3001 may be configured to carry a signal, for example, an electrical or optical signal. The cable 3001 may be a power and / or data cable. Alternatively, or additionally, one or more of the line(s) 3001 may be a pipe for a fluid. The pipe may be for, for example, water or wastewater pipe, a fuel / propellant, a hydraulic fluid, a pneumatic fluid or any other liquid or gas.

[0303] The elongate member(s) too, too may be an elongate hollow structure too, too’ that forms a conduit for the line(s) 3001. That is, one or may lines 3001 may extend along the inside of the elongate hollow structure too, too’.

[0304] An embodiment of a line supply mechanism 3000 is shown in Fig. 37. In this particular example, the line supply mechanism 3000 is a cable supply mechanism 3000. However, it should be recognised that in other embodiments the line supply mechanism 3000 may supply a pipe (which may optionally be flexible pipe).

[0305] The cable supply mechanism 3000 comprises a cable supply 3002 and a coupling mechanism 3003 that is configured to couple the cable 3001 to the elongate member too, too’ or another component, for example a component of the spacecraft such as a payload. In the present example, the cable supply 3002 is a cable reel 3002.

[0306] In some embodiments, the coupling mechanism 3003 comprises a robotic arm 3004 that is configured to attach the cable 3001 to one or more points along the elongate member too, too’ (or to another component, such as a payload). The robotic arm 3004 has a gripping device 3005 configured to releasably grip the cable 3001. The robotic arm 3004 may grip the cable 3001, move the cable into a fixing position relative to the elongate member too, too’ (or another component, such as a payload) and then release the cable 3001 once the cable 3001 has been attached to the elongate member too, too’. However, in other embodiments (not shown), the coupling mechanism 3003 alternatively, or additionally, comprises one or more rollers, drums or belts that are configured to convey the cable 3001 and attach the cable 3001 to the elongate member too, too’ or another component. In some embodiments, the coupling mechanism 3003 is configured to attach the cable 3001 to the inner or outer surface of the elongate member too, too’. In some embodiments, the coupling mechanism 3003 is configured to attach the cable 3001 to the sheet material of the elongate member too, too’.

[0307] In some embodiments, the coupling mechanism 3003 further comprises an adhesive applicator 3006 that is configured to apply adhesive to the cable 3001 and / or elongate member too, too’ in order to attach the cable 3001 to the elongate member. The adhesive applicator 3006 comprises an adhesive supply 3007 and a nozzle 3008 that is configured to expel adhesive stored in the adhesive supply 3007. In the present example, the nozzle 3008 is mounted to the robotic arm 3004 such that adhesive is supplied to attach the cable 3001 to the elongate member too, too’ once the cable 3001 is in the position to be fixed to the elongate member too, too’. In other embodiments (not shown), the coupling mechanism 3003 instead attaches the cable 3001 to the elongate member too, too’ with one or more fasteners such as screws, bolts, clamps or staples.

[0308] The coupling mechanism 3003 may be instead be configured to attach the cable 3001 to the sheet material 3A prior to the sheet material 3A being formed into a loop of the elongate member too, too’. In the present example, the coupling mechanism 3003 is configured such that, in use, the cable 3001 is attached to the sheet material 3A such that when the sheet material 3A is advanced about the conveyance axis X-X and in the axial direction A, At, A2 to form the elongate member too, too’, the cable 3001 is drawn in the respective axial direction A, Al, A2.

[0309] In the present embodiment, the cable 3001 is supplied as the elongate member too is formed from the sheet material 3A such that the cable 3001 is drawn from the reel 3002 and moves in the first axial direction A as the sheet material 3A is advanced. For instance, the cable 3001 may be attached to the sheet material 3A once a loop of the sheet material 3A has been formed, such that further movement of the sheet material 3A in the first axial direction A about the conveyance axis X-X also draws the cable 3001 in the first axial direction A (whether the cable 3001 is on the interior or exterior of the elongate member too). In some embodiments, the coupling mechanism 3003 is configured to attach the cable 3001 at multiple points along the length of the elongate member too, too (to the interior or exterior thereof). In another embodiment (not shown), the cable 3001 is drawn from the cable reel 3002 and provided to the interior or exterior of the elongate member too after the elongate member too has been formed. In another embodiment (not shown), the cable 3001 is not attached to the sheet material of the elongate member too, too’ and instead is coupled to the payload (not shown) that is provided at a point along or at the end of the elongate member too, too’. Therefore, when the payload is deployed, the cable 3001 is drawn from the reel 3002. In one embodiment, the elongate member too, too’ is a hollow structure too, too’ that itself forms a conduit for a fluid (for example, to supply water, wastewater, a fuel / propellant, a hydraulic fluid, a pneumatic fluid or any other liquid or gas. That is, the wall 100B of the elongate member too, too’ contains the fluid within the elongate member too, too’. In some embodiments, the apparatus 1, 101, 201, 301, 401, 501, toota-f optionally comprises a line supply mechanism 3000 configured to supply one or more lines 3001 to the elongate member too, too’, as previously described. Therefore, a single structure too, too’ can be used to transmit a fluid and also, for example, data or electrical power. The line(s) 3001 may be within the elongate member too, too’ that contains the fluid.

[0310] In each of the above described embodiments of apparatus 1, 101, 201, 301, 401, 501, toota-f, the sheet material 3A, 303A, 503A is advanced in a first axial direction A, A1-6 to form the elongate member too, too’. Optionally, in some embodiments this process may be reversed. That is, the direction of the drive may be reversed such that the sheet material 3A, 303A, 503A is drawn from the structure forming mechanism 4 to the supply mechanism 2 and collected on the supply 3, 303, 503. The sheet material 3A, 303A, 503A can thus be advanced in a second axial direction that is opposite to the first axial direction A, A1-6. This decreases the axial length ‘L’ of the elongate member too, too’. In some embodiments, the heater 12 of the joining mechanism 10 is operated to heat the thermoplastic / adhesive such that the thermoplastic / adhesive melts and thus the sheet material 3A, 303A, 503A can be drawn from the elongate member too, too’ and back to the supply 3, 303, 503. Optionally, the supply 3, 303, 503 may then be reused to construct one or more further wall(s) of an elongate member too. In each of the above described embodiments, the apparatus 1, 101, 201, 301, 401, 501, toota-f forms an elongate member too, too’ that is substantially cylindrical. However, the elongate member too, too’ may instead have a different shape, for example, an oval, triangular, rectangular or square cross-section.

[0311] In each of the above described embodiments of apparatus i, tot, 201, 301, 401, 501, toota-f, the structure forming mechanism is configured such that the sheet material is conveyed along a helical path to form the elongate member too, too’. It should be recognised that the term “helical” does not require that the sheet material travels at a constant pitch or radius about the conveyance axis and instead the pitch and / or radius may vaiy.

[0312] In some embodiments (not shown), the sheet material 3A, 303A, 503A may be provided as a thin strip or ribbon of material. In other embodiments, the sheet material may be a wide sheet of material. The term ‘elongate’ means that the elongate member has a length that is greater than its width. In the case of a cylindrical elongate member, this means that the length is greater than the external diameter of the elongate member.

Claims

Claims1. An apparatus for forming an elongate member for use in a space environment, the apparatus comprising: a supply mechanism configured to receive a supply of sheet material; and, a structure forming mechanism configured such that, in use, sheet material is fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism, the structure forming mechanism comprising one or more guide members configured to guide the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form an elongate member.

2. An apparatus according to claim i, wherein the apparatus is configured such that a payload is couplable to the sheet material such that, in use, when the sheet material is advanced about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction along the conveyance axis, the payload is moved from a first position to a second position.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the apparatus comprises a line supply mechanism configured to supply a line and, preferably, wherein the line comprises at least one of: a cable or a fluid supply pipe, and / or wherein the line supply mechanism is configured such that, in use, when the sheet material is advanced about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction to form the elongate member, the line is drawn in the axial direction.

4. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sheet material has first and second edges, and wherein the one or more guide members are configured to guide the sheet material to advance about the conveyance axis and in the axial direction such that the first edge overlaps the second edge.

5. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding clams, wherein the supply mechanism is configured to receive a roll of sheet material and, preferably, wherein the supply mechanism comprises a roll holder.

6. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus comprises a drive that, in use, is operable to urge the sheet material to be fed from the supply mechanism to the structure forming mechanism and, preferably, the drive comprises a motor.

7. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus comprises a joining mechanism that is configured to join a first portion of the sheet material to a second portion of the sheet material and, preferably, wherein the joining mechanism comprises a heater configured to heat the sheet material and, preferably, to inductively heat the sheet material.

8. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the or at least one of the guide members comprises a guide roller and / or wherein the or at least one of the guide members is adjustable to adjust the size of the elongate member.

9. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more guide members are configured to guide the sheet material along a substantially helical path. to. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus is configured to receive a supply of a second sheet material, and wherein the apparatus comprises a second structure forming mechanism configured such that, in use, second sheet material is fed to the second structure forming mechanism, the second structure forming mechanism comprising one or more guide members configured to guide the second sheet material to advance about a second conveyance axis and in a second axial direction along the second conveyance axis to form a second elongate member.

11. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a supply of sheet material received in the supply mechanism and / or wherein the sheet material comprises a composite material and, preferably, comprises carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic.

12. An assembly apparatus for assembling components of spacecraft in space, the assembly apparatus comprising: a core platform; and a mobile platform comprising an end effector configured to perform an assembly task; the mobile platform being connected to the core platform by a tether;the core platform comprising a body and a coupling element connected to and extendable from the body such that the coupling element may be spaced from the body of the core platform; wherein the tether connects the mobile platform to the body via the coupling element; an actuator configured to vary the length of the tether extending between the coupling element and the mobile platform to control the position of the mobile platform relative to the body of the core platform; and, an apparatus for forming an elongate member according to any one of claims 1 to n, and wherein the elongate member is a truss configured to space the coupling element from the body of the core platform.

13. A method of forming an elongate member for use in a space environment, the method comprising: feeding sheet material from a supply of sheet material and guiding the sheet material to advance about a conveyance axis and in an axial direction along the conveyance axis to form the elongate member.

14. An elongate member formed according to the method of claim 13.

15. A sheet material for use with an apparatus for forming an elongate member, the sheet material comprising a composite substrate comprising a thermally activated adhesive and at least one susceptor that is configured to be inductively heated to activate the adhesive.

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