CP14 (ADE, Aerodynamic Deorbit Experiment)

Demonstrate the viability of a deployable drag sail for deorbiting.

Demonstrate the viability of a deployable drag sail that could be used in future space missions to significantly reduce satellite deorbit times. As a secondary mission objective, ADE will attempt to characterize the radiation environment in its trajectory, which runs through both the inner and outer Van Allen belts each orbit.

The baselined orbit for the ADE mission is geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), with perigee/apogee orbit altitudes of 185 km/35,756 km and an inclination of 27.0 deg. The expected orbital lifetime of ADE is 50-250 days following deployment of the drag device. With no drag device, a standard 1U CubeSat would remain in orbit for approximately 2,500 days (6.85 years).

Provide flight qualification and characterize the performance of a deployable drag device to accelerate the deorbit of small satellites following the completion of an operational mission.​ A high-precision inertial measurement unit will return data from each perigee passage during the 11-day deorbit test.