Drag Sail for End-of-Life Disposal from Low Earth Orbit

NanoSail-D: A solar sail demonstration mission

“…If a similar sail were stowed on a spacecraft and deployed at the end of its life, it might serve as a lightweight deorbit system. 2 ) 4. Ground imaging to reduce spacecraft instrumentation.…”

Needs Assessment of Gossamer Structures in Communications Platform End-of-Life Disposal

“…29,30 The aerodynamic drag forces, restoring torques and oscillations that may be expected to occur during aerostabilization have also been considered for de-orbiting devices. 5,31 In summary, the literature shows that the lower the sweep angle of the shuttlecock, that is the flatter the drag augmentation device, the greater the drag force generated, however smaller restoring forces are generated than at higher sweep angles leading to a potentially lower mean surface area to the mean-free flow of the atmosphere. A sweep angle of approximately 10 degrees is suggested as an optimal balance.…”

“…A sweep angle of approximately 10 degrees is suggested as an optimal balance. 5 It is also shown in [5] that the initial angle of attack critically determines the de-orbit time as a high initial angle of attack will result in significant structural oscillations, which may not be fully damped by the time re-entry occurs, resulting in increased de-orbit times. The time of deployment can also have a significant effect on the aerodynamic stabilization characteristics of the drag augmentation device due to the atmospheric diurnal bulge, which can significantly aid structure damping.…”

“…The time of deployment can also have a significant effect on the aerodynamic stabilization characteristics of the drag augmentation device due to the atmospheric diurnal bulge, which can significantly aid structure damping. 5 Deployment between 2000 -0600hrs, local solar time, results in faster de-orbit times, however the effect is less significant that the initial angle of attack.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Drag-augmentation is typically achieved by two means, either through the deployment of a spherical envelope, for example a balloon, which has the advantage of being an omni-directional system, or by deployment of a shaped gossamer structure. Drag-augmentation concepts have also been extended to exploit enhanced solar radiation pressure on the deployed surface, 6,7, and the perturbation.…”