Dr. Jong-Eun (Jaden) Suh
Senior Post-Doctoral Scholar
Space Structures Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
April 16, 2026
The traditional approach to building large space structures, based on deployable structural concepts, has enabled structures at scales of several tens of meters. However, achieving lightweight yet stiff designs, ensuring reliable deployment, and overcoming launch vehicle constraints remain significant challenges for realizing high-precision space structures at much larger scales. This talk begins by presenting novel structural concepts based on origami-inspired designs, which enable both high load-bearing capacity and reconfigurability for future adaptive space systems. It then introduces recent efforts toward developing new in-space assembly architectures that enable the construction of large space structures beyond the limitations of deployable systems. The presentation concludes by highlighting key research directions required to enable next-generation large-scale, high-precision space structures.
Contact: Noel Clemens (clemens@mail.utexas.edu)