Output details
13 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials
University of Surrey
CubeSail: A low cost CubeSat based solar sail demonstration mission
This paper describes the design of a low cost 3-axis solar sail and drag break mission to be launched in August 2013. Cubesail will be the first 3-axis control solar sail to be orbited and will be the first demonstration of a 3-axis drag break for end-of-life satellite deorbiting. CubeSail has led to significant follow-up projects such as ESA’s first deorbiting system: ESA Gossamer Sail, and the EU-FP7 funded DEORBITSAIL and InflateSAIL/DEPLOYTECH projects. The impact of CubeSail is already significant as it has led to the first active debris removal concept currently being evaluated by the European Commission for implementation.