The Miura fold in science and engineering
Miura fold: learn how a sheet packs small and opens through one motion. Origami in space and engineering. Solar arrays, thickness and a paper activity.
Engineers use folding patterns to pack a large surface into a small space and open it again. The Miura fold is a well-known example used for a solar array in space.
What is the Miura fold?
Koryo Miura developed a folding pattern made from repeating parallelograms. Its connected creases let the sheet open and close through one coordinated motion, rather than requiring each panel to be moved separately.
A solar array in space
In 1995, a solar panel using the Miura pattern unfolded on Japan’s Space Flyer Unit satellite. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory describes that flight as an early test of the approach.
Real materials have thickness
A solar array is thicker than a sheet of paper. Designers have to make room for that thickness as panels fold together. Later JPL and Brigham Young University work explored a different combination of folds for a deployable array; it should not be confused with the original Miura pattern.