ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 29 -- United States Patent no. 12,208,926, issued on Jan. 28, was assigned to Opterus Research and Development Inc. (Fort Collins, Colo.).
"In space assembly" was invented by Thomas W. Murphey (Fort Collins, Colo.) and Carter Fortuin (Fort Collins, Colo.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of in-space assembly includes: providing a roll of spooled high strength composite (HSC) boom, a robotic arm, and a printhead disposed at about an end of the robotic arm, the roll of spooled high strength composite boom feedingly coupled to the printhead; positioning the robotic arm; dispensing from the roll of spooled high strength composite boom a length of high strength composit...