An elongated truss boom structure is adapted to be flattened and coiled to a
stowed
configuration. The truss boom includes longerons, battens, and diagonals. A fixed
ladder shaped structure is formed by a plurality of fixedly coupled battens which
interconnect two adjacent longerons. The truss boom is flattened for stowage by
arranging all of the longerons coplanar to the plane of the fixed ladder shaped
structure. The longerons preferably have a corrugated cross section. For stowage
the longeron is heated and compressed into a ribbon shaped cross section, and upon
deployment the longeron is heated to restore its corrugated cross section. A mechanical
assembly machine includes a drum, a stowed flattened truss boom rolled into a coil
around the drum, a device for unrolling the coil, an actuating and locking mechanism,
and a control arm which connects the actuating and locking mechanism to the drum.
