De-Orbit Maneuver Demonstration Results of Micro-Satellite ALE-1 with a Separable Drag Sail

Abstract

ALE-1, a micro-satellite created for the demonstration of artificial shooting stars, required orbital descent before mission execution due to safety aspects in orbit. ALE-1 utilized a drag sail called SDOM (Separable De-Orbit Mechanism) for a passive de-orbit maneuver, which was successfully completed, lowering the orbit from about 500 km down to about 400 km. This paper summarizes the detailed history of satellite operation and the results of the de-orbit maneuver demonstration during the past three years. Although the SDOM sail faced difficulty in keeping the desired deployed shape of the drag sail due to mechanical troubles, by letting the sail be a drag flag instead, it could still deliver a meaningful de-orbit performance to allow the satellite to successfully lower the orbit as planned. The de-orbit effect of the drag flag was evaluated using comparisons between orbit propagation simulations and the actual orbit transition flight data provided in the form of TLE (Two-Line Element) sets. Through this study, it is demonstrated that the SDOM can provide orbit transfer capabilities for satellites. Furthermore, the de-orbit performance of the drag flag can be evaluated, which could be an important reference for the future implementation of de-orbit devices to solve space debris problems.

Editorial for Special Issue: Recent Advances in Space Debris

“…Among drag augmentation devices, drag sails already represent the state of the art. In [10], the authors present an in-orbit demonstration performed by a micro-satellite equipped with a sail that, despite a few subsystem failures, was still capable of lowering the spacecraft altitude from 500 km to 400 km.…”