Journal Front Cover Image: JCS Vol. 5 Issue 6

Cover Story: While an airbrake has already been designed for Endeavour’s Darwin I rocket, there is still room for curiosity-driven improvement. Here, a Flasher origami airbrake is designed as a bilayer composite of segmented quasi-isotropic CFRP on a carbon fibre woven membrane. When stowed, the airbrake has a 3D structure that aligns flush with the fuselage of the rocket; however, when actuated to an open state, it becomes a flat 2D plate that increases drag. The Flasher origami airbrake is lower in weight and volume and has a 6-fold higher drag-to-torque ratio than the current Darwin I airbrake design. This paper elucidates the noteworthy potential for the application of origami composite technologies in rocket engineering