Gravity Offloading and Analysis of Long Imperfection-Sensitive Elements (GOALIE - ACO)

Completed NASA Game Changing Development project led by Langley Research Center from 2023-04-01 to 2025-04-30 with Redwire Space Technologies support. GOALIE develops experimental gravity-offloading methods to infer the as-manufactured shape and mechanical performance of long composite booms under flight-like microgravity conditions and validate computational models. These methods support deployable space structures such as solar-array booms and Solar Cruiser TRAC concepts, enabling larger capture areas and structural scale with fewer launches while improving confidence in flexible composite design.