Roccor, LLC — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: Z8

Description

There is an ever-growing need for orbital debris mitigation as the number of spacecraft launched into Low Earth Orbit continues to significantly increase.nbsp; While relatively simple drag sail devices, such as Nanosail-D2 and Surreyrsquo;s InflateSail have been shown to be effective in reducing deorbit times to within an acceptable range, these sails have not been capable of orbital maneuvering to allow for controlled, targeted re-entry.nbsp; Being able to actively change orbital inclination and/or throttle drag area to control re-entry location could be a game-changing capability.nbsp; In response to NASArsquo;s desire for such a capability, Roccor proposes to develop the Sail Trimming ActuatoR for Targeted Reentry (STARTR) system.nbsp; This simple, small and lightweight system can be used to guide the spacecraft to a known reentry point.nbsp; The key enabling technology for STARTR is a gimballed boom that controls the relationship between a planar drag sailrsquo;s center-of-pressure (CP) and center-of-gravity (CG) to induce attitude control torques large enough for orbit changing maneuvers.nbsp; Furthermore, Roccor envisions a retractable sail membrane that can be used to throttle the effective drag area up or down to further fine-tune reentry time and location.nbsp; The system is designed to easily scale for a given spacecraft mass and size.nbsp; The proposed Phase I effort will involve the conceptual development of the STARTR system, including system modeling and analysis for stability (aero- and gravity gradient), orbital trajectory manipulation and drag throttling.