Aerodynamically Stable DragSails for Spacecraft Deorbit

The safe disposal of a satellite upon mission completion or in the event of satellite failure is necessary to preserve the utility of high-value orbits. Vestigo Aerospace is developing the Spinnaker product line of dragsails, sized to provide deorbit capability for host vehicles ranging from microsatellites to launch vehicle stages.nbsp; Sizing takes into account both deorbit duration and probability of collision requirements. Substantial work was completed in Phase I to demonstrate the feasibility and benefit of dragsail aerodynamic stability. Evaluation of the six degree-of-freedom (6DOF) dynamics of the system allows determination of how to utilize passive aerodynamic stability in order to reduce deorbit times. A large database was generated characterizing the deorbit behavior and characteristics of various host/dragsail configurations. The Phase I study clearly shows the benefits using passive aerodynamic stability to increase the average drag coefficient of the vehicle during deorbit. The Phase II investigation will develop dragsailnbsp;system prototypes and perform environmental testing. Thesenbsp;prototypes, along with high-fidelity modeling and definition of Level 3 and Level 4 requirements, will establish TRL 6 for the dragsail designs.nbsp; During Phase II, the 6DOF software will be enhanced and validated with flight data. Vehicle control surfaces for passive stability will be evaluated.nbsp; Level 3 and 4 requirements will be defined.nbsp; Reliability analysis will be performed, and will be used to inform the design.nbsp; Command and telemetry dictionaries will be developed, and the Spinnaker3 18 m2 dragsail will be flight qualified on a Firefly launch, establishing TRL 7.nbsp;Targeted reentry analysis will be performed to demonstrate the benefits of the deployable decelerators for constraining reentry corridors. Completion of the Phase II investigation will position Vestigo Aerospace for commercialization of the Spinnakernbsp;dragsail product line.