Spun from gossamer thin bimetallic threads this flag would breath like Egyptian cotton... if there were any atmosphere, but on the lonely Lunar landscape though direct sunlight alone will cause portions of this fabric to straighten against the weak gravity only to find that portion then shaded by another portion of the cloth becoming heated in the solar breeze.

Weave patterns will need to be experimented with to obtain the most realistic wave forms
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 16 2019

Nitinol doesn't behave like that. You're thinking of bimetallic strip.

When warmed above a critical temperature, nitinol reverts to the shape it was before it was distorted at lower temperature.

Once the reversion has occurred, it's necessary to cool it below the critical temperature and then mechanically reshape it.

[-] bad metallurgy.
-- 8th of 7, Jan 17 2019


Minor technical correction, interesting, and perhaps workable.
-- RayfordSteele, Jan 17 2019


really? If the nitinol mesh were made to be flat when illuminated then when in shadow gravity would pull the cloth downwards. Sunlight would not fall evenly on its wrinkled surface so only portions would try to become flat again while shading other portions, but okay I believe you.

Fixed.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 17 2019


Interesting, but I suspect the flag would settle into some sort of equilibrium, changing only slightly as the sun moved. But, in theory, it might just work...
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 17 2019



random, halfbakery