SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft features a very clever trick: after being launched into space, it deploys enormous solar panels that unfold from the body of the aircraft. These panels absorb the sun's rays, providing energy to the spacecraft's sensors, communications systems, and heating and cooling systems. To help you understand how it works, take a look at this video.
An ingenious system, I said. And it took a team of engineers to make it work: Brian Ignaut he was one of them. “I worked on SpaceX's foldable solar panels for six years,” he writes, before revealing that he has a side hobby: designing and building foldable and practically self-assembling origami furniture.
Self-assembling origami furniture
What appear to be simple, oddly shaped wooden planks are opened to transform into foldable furniture that nestles neatly into place. And the user doesn't have to drive a single nail. A movement of the hand and voila: lamps, tables, stools and so on come out. It's like taking home a flat cabinet IKEA and mount it in four seconds with your finger. Do I get excited? TAC!
From Spacex to carpentry
Ignaut smelt a deal in 2018, leaving Musk's company to move from space to earth. Now he focuses on designing, building and selling this origami furniture. For now its prices are a little high, but Ignaut calls it a “temporary necessity”.
Accessibility is the ultimate goal
Brian Ignaut
“I'm excited to make things that a wider audience can buy. Even though prices are high today, I hope that these more expensive series will be able to subsidize the development of more affordable iterations.”
If you want more information and throw the screwdriver when you assemble a piece of furniture, here is Brian's company website, Degrees of Freedom.
