A compact storage deorbiting sail for cubesat applications
- Paper number
IAC-14,A6,4,2,x25439
- Author
Mr. Marcello Valdatta, University of Bologna, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Niccolò Bellini, University of Bologna, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Alfredo Locarini, NPC/Spacemind, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Stefano Naldi, University of Bologna, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Davide Rastelli, University of Bologna, Italy
- Year
2014
- Abstract
One of the most important innovations in to space sciences, due to the recent increasing of cubesat based missions, is the possibility to have a low cost platform suitable for testing in orbit new technologies. Moreover a lot of universities continue to build cubesats for educational purposes furthermore increasing the number of cubesats launched into the space. These satellites are, in general, not provided with a post mission disposal system to perform deorbiting at the end life of satellites. The result is an increasing numbers of space debris in a size range which is at the same time difficult to track and potentially destructive for operative missions. Moreover, typical cubesat features do not include active attitude and orbital control system capable to perform a de-orbiting manoeuvre. The space on board of cubesats is a particular issue especially for 1U cubesats, where usually all the available space is filled with the main subsystems of the satellite itself. Therefore, post mission disposal systems do not play a key role for operative life of cubesats and are not considered as design drivers. In case existing deorbiting guidelines would become rules, a post mission disposal system would become mandatory for all satellites, including nanosats. Thus, the Spacemind division of NPC Italy, which is directly descended from the former Space Robotics Group of University of Bologna, has designed and manufactured a deorbiting drag sail which takes 20% of 1U cubesat storage space. The sail is composed exploiting a specific polyurethane foam formulation, which guarantees a compact storage volume and a passive deploying system, without complex mechanism or boom that could be origin of failures. The reliability of the system is also due to the unlocking sail device that consists in a standalone passive actuator released by the electronics of the satellite: it is possible to define a specific activation time and ensure the deployment even in case of failure of the entire satellite. The sail performances are estimated to assure a deorbiting time in LEO orbit that respects Inter Agencies Space Debris Coordination Coommittee (IADC) guidelines. The paper will report the results of preliminary ground tests and the integration of the system in the PolyOrbite cubesat, a 3U cubesat realized for the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge, in collaboration with Polytechnique of Montreal and University of Bologna and in the URSA Maior, a cubesat realized from the University of Rome to be launched within QB50 program.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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