Testing of the Deorbitsail drag sail subsystem

Stohlman, OR; Fernandez, JM; Lappas, V.; Hillebrandt, Martin; Straubel, Marco; Hühne, Christian

doi:10.2514/6.2013-1807

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Guest [14] describes patterns allowing the wrapping of a membrane around a central hub, and De Focatiis [15] presents different folding patterns based on the folding of tree leaves. Double zig-zag folding patterns, sometimes referred to as frog-leg folding, were employed, for example, by Leipold [3] and Stohlman [16]. A combined folding and central coiling of a sail membrane split into four triangular segments was implemented for JAXA's IKAROS sail [17] and for a Cubesat and on a CubeSat level this is presented in [18].…”

Section: Large Membrane Stowing Methods and Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane Deployment Technology Development at DLR for Solar Sails and Large-Scale Photovoltaics

Sproewitz

Grundmann

Seefeldt

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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Following the highly successful flight of the first interplanetary solar sail, JAXA's IKAROS, with missions in the pipeline such as NASA's NEASCOUT nanospacecraft solar sail and JAXA's Solar Power Sail solar-electric propelled mission to a Jupiter Trojan asteroid, and on the background of the ever increasing power demand of GEO satellites now including all-electric spacecraft, there is renewed interest in large lightweight structures in space. Among these, deployable membrane or 'gossamer' structures can provide very large functional area units for innovative space applications which can be stowed into the limited volumes of launch vehicle fairings as well as secondary payload launch slots, depending on the scale of the mission. Large area structures such as solar sails or high-power photovoltaic generators require a technology that allows their controlled and thereby safe deployment. Before employing such technology for a dedicated science or commercial mission, it is necessary, to demonstrate its reliability, i.e., TRL 6 or higher. A reliable technology that enables controlled deployment was developed in the GOSSAMER-1 solar sail deployment demonstrator project of the German Aerospace Center, DLR, including verification of its functionality with various laboratory tests to qualify the hardware for a first demonstration in low Earth orbit. We provide an overview of the GOSSAMER-1 hardware development and qualification campaign. The design is based on a crossed boom configuration with triangular sail segments. Employing engineering models, all aspects of the deployment were tested under ambient environment. Several components were also subjected to environmental qualification testing. An innovative stowing and deployment strategy for a controlled deployment and the required mechanisms are described. The tests conducted provide insight into the deployment process and allow a mechanical characterization of this process, in particular the measurement of the deployment forces. The stowing and deployment strategy was verified by tests with an engineering qualification model of one out of four GOSSAMER-1 deployment units. According to a test-as-you-fly approach the tests included vibration tests, venting, thermalvacuum tests and ambient deployment. In these tests the deployment strategy proved to be suitable for a controlled deployment of gossamer spacecraft, and deployment on system level was demonstrated to be robust and controllable. The GOSSAMER-1 solar sail membranes were also equipped with small thin-film photovoltaic arrays intended to supply the core spacecraft. In our follow-on project GOSOLAR, the focus is now entirely on deployment systems for huge thin-film photovoltaic arrays. Based on the GOSSAMER-1 experience, deployment technology and qualification strategies, new technologies for the integration of thin-film photovoltaics are being developed and qualified for a first in-orbit technology demonstration within five years. Main objective is the further development of deployment technology for a 25 m² gossa...

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Section: Large Membrane Stowing Methods and Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane Deployment Technology Development at DLR for Solar Sails and Large-Scale Photovoltaics

Sproewitz

Grundmann

Seefeldt

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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“…Further detail is included in a separate manuscript, also presented at the 2013 SDM conference [18].…”

Section: B Deployment Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deorbitsail: a deployable sail for de-orbiting

Stohlman

Lappas

2013

54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference

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Deorbitsail is a collaborative project funded by the European Commission. The Deorbitsail Cubesat mission will demonstrate in-space deployment of a large thin membrane sail and drag deorbiting using this sail. The sail will be deployed from an 11-by-11-by-34-cm Cubesat platform, which will have 3-axis attitude control. A set of four gossamer booms will deploy four triangular membrane segments to form the 5-by-5-meter drag sail. The Deorbitsail design is intended for space debris prevention, although it holds potential for additional applications in aerobraking and solar sail propulsion. A 2014 launch is planned.This paper describes some of the high-level design and the ongoing engineering goals of the project.

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“…During deployment testing a problem occurred when the booms would uncoil inside the deployer instead of deploying the sails. This issue was termed "blossoming" and had been encountered in missions with similar deployer designs [20,21,24]. Section 2 describes the blossoming problem in more detail.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Different cross section booms have also been developed for different applications such as the lenticular DLR boom [16,17], and the Triangular Rollable And Collapsible (TRAC) boom [18]. More recently there has been a growing interest in the use of coiled deployable booms for solar sailing missions such as NanoSail-D2 [19], LightSail [20], DeorbitSail [21] and InflateSail [22]. At the Surrey Space Centre the CubeSail solar sailing mission [23] uses four coiled deployable booms to deploy four triangular sails.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tip force during blossoming of coiled deployable booms

Hoskin

Viquerat

Aglietti

2017

International Journal of Solids and Structures

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Deployable booms are an essential part of the deployable structures family used in space. They can be stowed in a coiled form and extended into a rod like structure in an action similar to that of a carpenter's tape measure. "Blossoming" is a failure mode that some boom deployers experience where the booms uncoil within the deployer instead of extending. This paper develops a method to predict the force that a boom can exert before blossoming occurs by using the strain energy stored in the coiled boom and in the compression springs.An experimental apparatus is used to gain practical results to compare to the theory.

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Testing of the Deorbitsail drag sail subsystem

Cited by 16 publications

References 10 publications

Membrane Deployment Technology Development at DLR for Solar Sails and Large-Scale Photovoltaics

Membrane Deployment Technology Development at DLR for Solar Sails and Large-Scale Photovoltaics

Deorbitsail: a deployable sail for de-orbiting

Tip force during blossoming of coiled deployable booms

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