InflateSail was 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 ...

launched on

PSLV The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...

C38 on 23 June 2017 into a 505 km polar

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 ...

. It carried a 1 m long inflatable rigidizable mast, and a 10 m² drag-deorbiting sail. Its primary aim was to demonstrate the effectiveness of drag based deorbiting from

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 ...

(LEO). Built by Surrey Space Centre of the

University of Surrey 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 institu ...

, it was one of the Technology Demonstrator CubeSats for the QB50 mission. An identical drag sail payload was planned to be included on the

RemoveDEBRIS RemoveDEBRIS was a satellite research project intending to demonstrate various space debris removal technologies. The mission was led by the Surrey Space Centre from the University of Surrey with the satellite's platform manufactured by Surrey S ...

demonstrator.

Inflatable mast

The inflatable mast was deployed first to distance the sail from the main body of the satellite. The inflatable skin was a 3-ply, 45 µm thick metal-polymer laminate which used the same strain rigidization process as the Echo 2 balloon. The inflation gas was stored in two cool gas generators (CGGs). The inflation gas was vented almost immediately after the deployment and rigidization process. Fully folded, the inflatable was just over in height.

Sail structure

The 10 m² sail was made up of four quadrants of 12 µm thick

polyethylene naphthalate Polyethylene naphthalate (poly(ethylene 2,6-naphthalate) or PEN) is a polyester derived from naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid and ethylene glycol. As such it is related to poly(ethylene terephthalate), but with superior barrier properties. Pro ...

, supported by four bistable carbon fiber tape-springs. The structure was similar in format to both

NanoSail-D2 NanoSail-D2 was a small satellite built by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center to study the deployment of a solar sail in space. It was a three-unit CubeSat, measuring with a mass of . Its solar sail had an area of , a ...

and

LightSail 2 LightSail is a project to demonstrate controlled solar sailing within low Earth orbit using a CubeSat. The project was developed by The Planetary Society, a global non-profit organization devoted to space exploration. It consists of two spacecr ...

. The deployment of the sail was driven by a brushless DC motor.

Spacecraft

InflateSail included an avionics suite to support the deployable sail payload. The spacecraft was powered by a GOMSpace power system and returned attitude data from the Stellenbosch/Surrey Attitude Determination and Control System. Communications with ground were executed through the TRXVU Transceiver procured from ISIS, using the UHF band to transmit and the VHF to receive. Beacon data containing spacecraft parameters were transmitted at 60s intervals at 436.060MHz 1200bd BPSK.

Launch

InflateSail was launched on board the

PSLV-C38 PSLV-C38 was the 40th mission of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) program and its 17th mission in the XL configuration. PSLV-C38 successfully carried and deployed 31 satellites in Sun-synchronous orbit. It was launched on 23 June ...

as one of 31 passenger satellites. InflateSail was one of 8 QB50 satellites on this launch. PSLV-C38 lifted off at 09:29 (IST)/03:59 (UTC) on 23 June 2017 from

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SDSC (formerly Sriharikota Range - SHAR) is a rocket launch centre ( spaceport) operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is located in Sriharikota, Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. Sriharikota ...

in India. InflateSail was ejected into a 518x494km orbit approximately 20 minutes after lift off.

Altitude loss

InflateSail successfully deployed its sail approximately one hour after ejection from the launch vehicle and was the first European sail successfully deployed in space. InflateSail rapidly lost altitude and decayed on 3 September 2017 after 72 days in orbit. InflateSail Altitude 20170903b

References

{{Reflist CubeSats Spacecraft launched in 2017