Opterus’ lightweight structural system will deploy and shape the largest solar sail ever flown, converting three SBIR phases into a mission-critical flight system.

Opterus has received a $10.2 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract from NASA to provide the structural deployment system for the agency’s next solar sail spacecraft. Opterus is developing a system to deploy and control a 1,600-square-meter sail, roughly the size of a hockey rink, using four 30-meter composite booms and integrated mechanisms. Delivery to NASA is planned for early 2028.

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Rendering of the Solar Sail Deployment System for NASA's next solar sail spacecraft, courtesy Opterus

The award advances Opterus’ Trussed Collapsible Tubular Mast (TCTM) technology, a lightweight composite boom architecture proven through earlier SBIR awards. The booms are designed to remain stiff and thermally stable after being tightly coiled for launch, then autonomously spool out in an X-shaped configuration to support the sail.

“It’s an SBIR success story,” said Kiel Davis, President of Opterus. “Two phases took our technology from research to validated hardware, and now our boom architecture is enabling a new scale of solar sailing. The systems engineering behind this effort is strengthening everything we do, from antennas to sensor arrays to lunar infrastructure.”

Opterus is engineering a tightly integrated system that controls sail shape and structural response to maintain stable radiation pressure and consistent propulsion performance throughout the mission.

“Building large precision space systems like this is exactly the type of challenge Opterus was created to solve,” said Tom Murphey, Founder and CTO of Opterus. “It’s more than deploying booms. We’re controlling the sail’s shape, its flatness, and propulsion characteristics.”

NASA’s most recent solar sail, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), deployed an 80 square meter sail on 7-meter booms. The spacecraft Opterus is supporting will fly a sail with an area 20 times that of ACS3.

Design, fabrication, and testing of the solar sail deployment system are currently underway at Opterus’ Loveland, Colorado, facility. Applied Aerospace & Defense is supplying the spacecraft’s sail membrane, made from a proprietary advanced thin-polymer, with flight heritage from previous solar and drag sail systems. Both companies are preparing for integrated system testing before delivering the system to NASA.

ABOUT OPTERUS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Opterus is a leading provider of advanced structural systems for space, lunar, and naval applications, including RF antennas, solar arrays, booms, and integrated deployment solutions. Based in Loveland, Colorado, the company supports missions from concept through flight, enabling commercial, civil, and defense partners to achieve precise deployments with low‑mass, high‑strain composite structures. More information is available at www.opterusrd.com.

ABOUT NASA SBIR/STTR

The NASA Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program is part of America’s Seed Fund, the nation’s largest source of early-stage non-dilutive funding for innovative technologies. Through this program, entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses with less than 500 employees can receive funding and non-monetary support to build, mature, and commercialize their technologies, advancing NASA missions and helping solve important challenges facing our country.

ABOUT APPLIED AEROSPACE

Applied Aerospace & Defense (Applied) is a premier provider of advanced design, engineering, and vertically integrated manufacturing solutions for leading and next-generation space and defense technology companies. Applied builds complex hardware for extreme operating environments and is focused on three core markets: Space and Launch Systems, Defense Aviation and Airborne Systems, and C5ISR and Precision Strike Systems. With decades of space and defense manufacturing heritage, Applied combines deep material science and IP-enabled process expertise with the ability to enable rapid prototyping, enhance new product development, and responsively scale production. Across its nationwide infrastructure of advanced manufacturing facilities, Applied continuously supports a balanced mix of next-generation technology and platform development, large scale production programs, and aftermarket sustainment for enduring platforms. More information is available at www.applied-aerospace.com

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The spacecraft Opterus is supporting will fly a sail 20 times larger, with booms four times the length of ACS3.