Development of a High Strain Composite Tip-Rolled De-Orbit Sail; Technology Review and Story of Flight Integration

摘要

In Q4 of 2017, Roccor of Longmont, Colorado was approached by an ESPA class spacecraft provider with the request to deliver a de-orbit sail within a six-month period. The 140kg spacecraft was to be placed in a circular ~750km, high inclination orbit and needed to deploy a drag device at the end-of-life with a surface area greater than 4m~2. After a series of concept iterations with the customer, dual rectangular tip-roll sails were selected, each supported by a deployable High Strain Composite (HSC) boom and offset 45° from the spacecraft's structure maximizing the cross-sectional area and aerodynamic stability. The rectangular sails, each measuring 4m × 0.5m, are named Roll-Out Composite, FCC Approved Life Limiting Deorbit Devices otherwise known as ROC-FALL. Their low-cost design boasts a simple and robust deployment mechanism utilizing few machined parts that is easily resettable to allow multiple deployment-cycle tests for mission assurance. This paper first provides a broad overview of the space debris problem and a summary of current technologies that are known for end-of-life satellite disposal. This paper then details the ROC-FALL design, and chronicles the recent flight build and lessons learned. The contents of this paper is similar to the work presented at the 2018 Small Satellite Conference in Logan, Utah [1].