ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,334,864, issued on June 17, was assigned to Opterus Research and Development Inc. (Fort Collins, Colo.).
"Retractable mast solar array" was invented by Thomas W. Murphey (Fort Collins, Colo.), Edward Smutney (Boulder, Colo.) and Daniel Hunt (Fort Collins, Colo.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A retractable mast solar array includes a collapsible boom extensible by a boom deployer. At least one foldable upper arm assembly is coupled to the collapsible boom. At least one foldable lower arm assembly coupled to the collapsible boom. A foldable solar array includes two or more columns of blanket elements, each column of blanket elements is aff...