Thermally-enhanced and deployable structures

A system comprising:

• a flight vehicle;
• and
• one or more deployable radiators, wherein:
• each deployable radiator comprises a structure configured to receive thermal energy and to reject the thermal energy into an external environment;
• the structure comprises (i) multiple inline and interconnected thermomechanical regions and (ii) one or more thermal energy transfer devices embedded in at least some of the thermomechanical regions;
• the one or more thermal energy transfer devices are configured to transfer the thermal energy between different ones of the thermomechanical regions;
• and
• at least one of the thermomechanical regions comprises one or more shape-memory materials configured to cause a shape of the structure to change.

A method comprising:

• receiving thermal energy at a structure, the structure comprising (i) multiple inline and interconnected thermomechanical regions and (ii) one or more thermal energy transfer devices embedded in at least some of the thermomechanical regions;
• transferring the thermal energy between different ones of the thermomechanical regions using the one or more thermal energy transfer devices;
• and
• rejecting the thermal energy from the structure into an external environment;
• wherein at least one of the thermomechanical regions comprises one or more shape-memory materials configured to cause a shape of the structure to change.