Traditional Japanese Origami Being Used For NASA Solar Panels

Clean Technica: Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers have engineered NASA solar panels that are based on the Japanese paper-folding art, origami. These panels are light, foldable, and easily deployable. The idea of origami solar cells, while not completely new, is capturing considerable press attention.

Brian Trease, a mechanical engineer at  NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, recalls origami dolls from his younger years. Eventually, he got curious about this Japanese paper-folding art when he was in Japan, during high school. He would fold wrappers of cheese burgers into cranes and loved to discover various origami techniques from library books.

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