Origami Flasher

Did you know that origami has influenced space exploration? Rockets have a limited amount of space inside them, meaning it can be difficult to get large objects out into orbit. Something like the 25-meter solar array shown above would be impossible to safely store inside a rocket at full size!

This origami pattern solves this problem by allowing the array to be stowed compactly during launch, then unfolded to its full size once in space. Additionally, since the pieces of the folded design are all connected, electrical circuits can run throughout, allowing for power generation from the panels.

For more information on the design of the solar panel, see these publications:

Zirbel, S. A., Lang, R. J., Thomson, M. W., Sigel, D. A., Walkemeyer, P. E., Trease, B. P., Magleby, S. P., and Howell, L. L. (October 3, 2013). "Accommodating Thickness in Origami-Based Deployable Arrays." ASME. J. Mech. Des. November 2013; 135(11): 111005.

Lang, Robert J., Spencer Magleby, and Larry Howell. "Single-degree-of-freedom Rigidly Foldable Origami Flashers." ASME 2015 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers Digital Collection, 2016.

Robert Lang developed a program for Mathematica based on that paper, which was what we used to obtain the geometry for this model. A download for his program, Tessellatica, is available here: https://langorigami.com/article/tessellatica/.

This Instructable will show you how to make your own paper model of this flasher pattern, which unfolds to nearly 50 times its compacted surface area!

Printer

Scissors

Flasher pattern

Print or copy the fold pattern onto a piece of paper.

Cut along the outer edges of the square pattern.

Using the line colors as a guide, fold along the crease lines:

Blue lines = mountain folds

Red lines = valley folds

It is easiest to focus on one fourth of the pattern at a time, and work your way around. Use the images above to help you, or use the PDF version below.

Carefully compact the paper from the outside edges, letting the existing creases guide you to the final state. The outside edges should almost do a 180° from where they were in the unfolded state.

Now, pull on the corners of the paper and watch it expand!

You can re-collapse the pattern and expand it as many times as you would like.