NanoSail-D
NanoSail-D
NanoSail-D
Spacecraft name NanoSail-D
Spacecraft type CubeSat
Units or mass 3U
Organization NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Institution Space agency
Entity Government (Civil / Military)
Headquarters US
Launch brokerer Cal Poly, ?
Oneliner

Deploy solar sail for deorbiting.

Description

Establish ARC-MSFC collaborative relationship for future small satellite initiatives. Deploy a 10 m² solar sail leveraging work by MSFC approved under the SMD In-Space Propulsion Program. Demo Orbital Debris Mitigation technology – drag sail. Ground Imaging to reduce spacecraft instrumentation. Add to flight experience – ARC Bus "light" experience.

The sail is made of an ultra-thin reflective polymer called CP-1. It is 7.5 microns thick and has a surface area of approximately 10 square meters. The sail is wound tightly around a central hub. When the sail deploys, four booms spring out to unfurl the sail and support its structure. The booms are each 2.2 meters long when fully deployed. The nine-pound sail subsystem was provided by ManTech/NeXolve in Huntsville, Ala.

Sources [1] [2]
Photo sources [1] [2]
Keywords Solar sail, Propulsion

Related Spacecraft

Spacecraft Status Launcher Date Orbit
NanoSail-D Launch failure Falcon 1 2008-08-03 Launch failure
NanoSail-D2 Was operational until 2011-01-21, 4 days, batteries were drained. Deployed from FASTSAT on 2011-01-17. Minotaur IV 2010-11-20 630 km, 72 deg

Last modified: 2023-06-08

Feel free to connect at any time.

Created by Erik Kulu

Email: erik.kulu@nanosats.eu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erikkulu

Social Platforms

LinkedIn: Nanosats
Twitter: @nanosatellites

Sister Websites

NewSpace Index: newspace.im
Factories in Space: factoriesinspace.com

Copyright © 2014 - 2024 Erik Kulu

scrollInertia: 0 });