CNUSAIL-1, to be launched into low-earth orbit, is a cubesat-class satellite equipped with a 2 m × 2 m solar sail. One of CNUSAIL's missions is to deploy its solar sail system, thereby deorbiting the satellite, at the end of the satellite's life. This paper presents the design results of the attitude control system for CNUSAIL-1, which maintains the normal vector of the sail by a 3-axis active attitude stabilization approach. The normal vector can be aligned in two orientations: i) along the antinadir direction, which minimizes the aerodynamic drag during the nadir-pointing mode, or ii) along the satellite velocity vector, which maximizes the drag during the deorbiting mode. The attitude control system also includes a B-dot controller for detumbling and an eigen-axis maneuver algorithm. The actuators for the attitude control are magnetic torquers and reaction wheels. The feasibility and performance of the design are verified in high-fidelity nonlinear simulations.

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The CNUSAIL-1 project aims to develop and operate a 3U-sized cube satellite with solar sail mechanism. The primary mission is to successfully deploy the solar sail in a low earth orbit, and the secondary mission is to collect the scientific data for the effect of the solar sail deployment and operation on orbit maneuver and attitude change of the cube satellite. For this, the bus system will collect and transmit the dynamic data of the satellite and the visual images of the solar sail operation. This paper describes solar sail mission and conceptual design of CNUSAIL-1. The actuation/operation of the solar sail and the bus system are preliminarily designed in terms of attitude control system, communication system, electrical power system, command and data handling system, structure and thermal control system is designed.