Deorbitsail is a collaborative project funded by the European Commission. The Deorbitsail Cubesat mission will demonstrate in-space deployment of a large thin membrane sail and drag deorbiting using this sail. The sail will be deployed from an 11-by-11-by-34-cm Cubesat platform, which will have 3-axis attitude control. A set of four gossamer booms will deploy four triangular membrane segments to form the 5-by-5-meter drag sail. The Deorbitsail design is intended for space debris prevention, although it holds potential for additional applications in aerobraking and solar sail propulsion. A 2014 launch is planned.This paper describes some of the high-level design and the ongoing engineering goals of the project.
Solar sails are currently being studied and developed as alternate propulsion vehicles that can provide high velocities. Their ability to reflect photons coming from the sun on a large lightweight reflective surface enables many unique space science missions. One such mission is the GeoSail mission, for which the aim is the study of Earth's magnetotail. Recent advances in solar sail technologies, satellite bus miniaturization, and attitude control motivate the present, study of an alternate systems design approach for GeoSail. This paper details a practical systems approach toward the design of a 40 x 40 m sail, focusing on the design and use of niche enabling technologies with applications to the proposed GeoSail mission. The study is based on mission kind system design requirements from ESA's technology reference studies, which focus on the development of strategically important technologies in preparation of future scientific missions: in this case, for the 2015-2025 time frame
Large deployable space structures are an integral part of reflectors, earth observation satellite antennas and radars, observation and radar targets, radiators, sun shields, solar sails and solar arrays. Launch vehicle faring sizes have not increased in the last three decades, meaning ever more efficient ways of packaging large space structures must be sought. Deployable structures come with the promise and capability of reducing payload mass substantially and allowing for very compact storage of systems during the launch phase. Gossamer structures hold particular promise for systems involving large apertures, solar panels, thermal shields and solar/deorbiting sails. The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of a great part of these technologies is still very low (in the order of 2-3). The objective of DEPLOYTECH is to develop three specific, useful, robust, and innovative large deployable space structures to a TRL of 6-8 in the next three years. These include: a 10 m 2 (3.6 m diameter) sail structure that uses inflatable technology for deployment and support; a 5 × 1 m roll-out flexible solar array that utilizes bistable composite booms; and 14 m solar sail CFRP booms with a novel deployment mechanism for extension control.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.