CRES – Chemically Rigidized Expandable Structures
CRES Expertise accumulated through the Contraves Space work M.C. Bernasconi Consultants Dr. Marco C. Bernasconi Overview Dr. Marco C. Bernasconi, in particular because of his long involvement with the developments at Contraves Space, possesses of a unique expertise in the field of inflatable, chemically-rigidized expandable structures for space applications (called herein CRES, for short). For historical reasons, work at Contraves centered on microwave antenna reflectors, as exemplified by the realization of the first “inflatable” offset reflector; however, work has been done in all classes of flexible-wall expandable structures (a superset of CRES — see diagram below) with the exception of [...]
Inflatable Technologies for Sculpture in Earth Orbit
A number of artists have made proposals for creating monumental artworks to be placed in Earth orbit which could be seen with unaided vision by those on Earth. While there has been a variety of technologies suggested most of the proposals have utilized some form of inflatable space technology. Echo 2 The idea of using inflatable structures goes back to the first Echo satellites launched by the US in the 60's - although a number of inflatable concepts for space applications pre-dated these satellites. These were passive communication satellites and carried no other payload. However, they were significant because, in [...]
CRES Expertise accumulated through the Contraves Space work M.C. Bernasconi Consultants Dr. Marco C. Bernasconi Overview Dr. Marco C. Bernasconi, in particular because of his long involvement with the developments [...]
A number of artists have made proposals for creating monumental artworks to be placed in Earth orbit which could be seen with unaided vision by those on Earth. While there [...]
