VESTIGO AEROSPACE, INC. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase II: Z8

Description

The Spinnaker product line of dragsails provides a low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C), reliable approach to meeting FCC deorbit requirements, advancing the state of the art for end-of-mission deorbit applications. A passive dragsail approach with a fault tolerant deployment initiation can provide reliable deorbit capability regardless of the host satellite state of health. Spinnaker dragsails offer straightforward integration with the host vehicle, with a simple bolt-on mechanical interface and a single electrical connection. All Spinnaker dragsails employ radiation-hardened electronics and life-tested batteries to ensure reliable deployment after 5nbsp;years on-orbit. Sail material is designed to withstand the on-orbit environment throughout the deorbit phase, including degradation due to atomic oxygen. The Spinnaker design is required to have an end-to-end reliability of greater than 99% for sail deployment and deorbit operations.The proposed Phase II Sequential effort will enable Vestigo to conduct on-orbit flight demonstrations for Spinnaker2 and Spinnaker3. The flight demonstrations will eliminate a major barrier to market entry, through advancing both Spinnaker dragsail configurations from TRL-6 to TRL-9. For the proposed flight demonstrations, the Spaceflight Sherpa orbital transfer vehicle will provide a launch opportunity to LEO, at an altitude range of 400 - 550 km. The Spinnaker2 dragsail will be hosted by an Astro Digital Corvus-Micro satellite bus. The Spinnaker3 dragsail will be integrated directly with the Sherpa as a captive-carry payload. Engineering images and Spinnaker microcontroller datasets capturing dragsail deployment will be acquired and downlinked from both vehicles.