DeorbitSail

Spacecraft nº:

UK spacecraft nº: 63

Launch data: Designation  40719 / 15032E Launch date  10 July 2015 - 16:28 UT Launch site  Sriharikota, FLP Launch vehicle  PSLV-XL Mission  Technology Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  635 x 657 km Eccentricity   Inclination  98.0 ° Period   min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• The DeorbitSail is a project to build a 3U CubeSat sized satellite with a deployable sail that will demonstrate rapid deorbiting.
• DeorbitSail will deploy a 4-by-4-meter, four-quadrant sail to demonstrate deorbiting. The spacecraft will be based on a 3 unit (3U) CubeSat standard structure, with dimensions close to 10 by 10 by 34 cm. DeorbitSail features power, communications, attitude control and data handling components in addition to its densely packed sail and deployment system. The sail will be able to change the satellite′s orbit through drag and solar radiation pressure.

Mission details:

• On the launch was also a 7 kg cubesat from the Surrey Space Centre.
  Surrey Space Center remains affiliated with the University of Surrey in Guildford while SSTL is its industrial spinoff generated after the commercialization of the UoSat platform in the mid-1980s.