CubeSail is a proposed

nanosatellite A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites ca ...

project by the

Surrey Space Centre The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

(SSC) in England. The spacecraft is to be a 3U

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSat ...

propelled by a 25 m²

solar sail Solar sails (also known as light sails and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigation have been ...

. The project is financed and technically supported by aerospace manufacturers

Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...

and

Surrey Satellite Technology Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, is a company involved in the manufacture and operation of small satellites. A spin-off company of the University of Surrey, it is presently wholly owned by Airbus Defence and Space. The company began ...

. The first successful solar sail spacecraft was the Japanese

IKAROS IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) experimental spacecraft. The spacecraft was launched on 20 May 2010, aboard an H-IIA rocket, together with the ''Akatsuki'' (V ...

mission, launched on 21 May 2010.

Overview

The project is further developing technologies first tested on their

STRaND-1 STRaND-1 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator 1) is a failed 3U CubeSat developed by Surrey University's Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL). The nanosatellite was launched into orbit on board a ...

CubeSat, launched in February 2013. CubeSail will deploy a 25 m²

, which will be used to demonstrate the propulsive effect of

solar radiation pressure Radiation pressure is the mechanical pressure exerted upon any surface due to the exchange of momentum between the object and the electromagnetic field. This includes the momentum of light or electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength that is a ...

and the de-orbiting capabilities of the sail as a drag augmentation device.CubeSail
University of Surrey. Accessed on 6 July 2019.

Attitude control

CubeSail will be a three-axis stabilised solar sail satellite.

Attitude control Attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of an aerospace vehicle with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, etc. Controlling vehicle ...

(orientation) is necessary because the orientation of the sail relative to the Sun direction will determine the propulsion force. Full three-axis attitude control will be performed by means of a centre of mass/centre of pressure offset technique, complemented by three

magnetorquer A magnetorquer or magnetic torquer (also known as a torque rod) is a satellite system for attitude control, detumbling, and stabilization built from electromagnetic coils. The magnetorquer creates a magnetic dipole that interfaces with an ambient ma ...

s and a

reaction wheel A reaction wheel (RW) is used primarily by spacecraft for three-axis attitude control, and does not require rockets or external applicators of torque. They provide a high pointing accuracy, and are particularly useful when the spacecraft must be ...

. Attitude control can be enhanced by using the

force on the sail to generate rotation torques. The spacecraft will be deployed in a low Earth orbit (800 km altitude) on a

Sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it ...

Configuration

The CubeSail nanosatellite is a CubeSat of the 3U format.

Objectives

The objectives of the CubeSail mission are to demonstrate the concept of solar sail propulsion of a 3-axis stabilised 25 m² solar sail for one year while in

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...

; and to demonstrate the use of gossamer structures (very light gauze-like fabric) as a drag augmentation device for satellite de-orbiting.

References

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External links