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SP-636 Envisat Symposium View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institute of Transport Research:Publications THE BOOM DESIGN OF THE DE-ORBIT SAIL SATELLITE Martin Hillebrandt (1), Sebastian Meyer (1), Martin Zander (1), Marco Straubel (1), Christian Hühne (1) (1) DLR – German Aerospace Center, Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems, Lilienthalplatz 7, 38108 Braunschweig, Germany, E-Mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT DEORBITER [4] and INFLATESAIL [5]. All will deploy sails with a size of 25m². While the sails of DE-ORBIT SAIL is a cubesat based drag sail for the CUBESAIL and GOSSAMER DEORBITER are de-orbiting of satellites in a low earth orbit. It is supported by bi-stable composite booms, scheduled for launch in late 2014 and will deploy a INFLATESAIL uses inflatable booms. NASA’s cubesat 25m² sail supported by deployable carbon fiber based solar sail project NANOSAIL-D possesses booms booms designed and manufactured by DLR. This made of metal which are self-deploying. NANOSAIL- boom possesses a closed cross-section formed by two D2 was launched in late 2010 and successfully deployed omega-shaped half-shells. Due to this cross-sectional a 10m² sail. design the boom features a high torsional stiffness. Thereby a high bending strength is achieved compared to other boom concepts for similar applications as the boom is less sensitive to flexural torsional buckling. The boom concept selection is based on a detailed analysis of three types of deployable booms which differ in their cross- sectional design. From this analysis the double- omega boom was determined as most suited for DE- ORBIT SAIL. For the manufacturing of the booms a novel method is used where the booms are manufactured in an integral way in one piece. 1. INTRODUCTION Figure 1-1: DE-ORBIT SAIL in deployed configuration. De-orbiting of satellites which are inoperative or have In the following the design of the DE-ORBIT SAIL exceeded their operational lifetime is of high booms is presented with a main focus on the concept importance to limit the growth of space debris which selection. Firstly, applicable boom concepts are endangers other spaceflight missions. reviewed in section 2. Section 3 provides all necessary One strategy for space debris mitigation in the low earth data for the concept selection in section 4. Section 5 orbit is to use a drag augmentation device which is describes the final design of the DE-ORBIT SAIL added to a satellite. For initiation of the de-orbit booms and is followed by a description of the novel manoeuvre a large surface which multiplies the actual integral manufacturing method in section 6. satellite surface is deployed. This increase in surface area also increases the drag forces resulting from the 2. REVIEW OF BOOM CONCEPTS residual earth atmosphere and causes accelerated decay in altitude until re-entry. One design solution is to Boom concepts for small satellite applications need to deploy a drag sail similar to a solar sail with a large be highly volume efficient especially in case of a membrane supported by deployable booms. This cubesat. The boom technologies selected for approach is chosen for the DE-ORBIT SAIL project LIGHTSAIl-1, NANOSAIL-D, CUBESAIL and (see Figure 1-1) which is developed within EU’s FP-7 GOSSAMER DEORBITER are all shape memory program by a consortium of universities, research structures based on elastically stored strain energy. facilities and industry. It is based on a 3U cubesat (1U These booms are rigid structures which are deformed = 100mm x 100mm x 100mm) and will demonstrate the elastically for stowage and are self-deploying. An deployment of a 25m² sail on-orbit in late 2014. alternative are inflatable structures as used for Currently there are several similar 3U-cubesat based sail INFLATESAIL. They are based on tubes of thin projects under development or – in case of membranes, can be stowed very compactly and are NANOSAIL-D2 [1] – have already flown. The deployed using an inflation gas. Inflatable booms need Planetary Society has recently finished development of to maintain the internal gas pressure to be able to carry LIGHTSAIL-1 [2] which has a sail-size of 32m² and is loads or require an additional rigidization mechanism. regarding the boom design based on NANOSAIL-D. For DE-ORBIT SAIL a shape memory boom design is The University of Surrey – which also holds the project selected. The deployment behaviour of such booms is management of DE-ORBIT SAIL – is currently well predictable and controllable. Their rigid structure developing CUBESAIL [3], GOSSAMER does not require any additional rigidization mechanisms and enables verification testing of the flight article prior to integration. As high stiffness materials are applicable and a higher shell thickness is achievable compared to the thin, highly deformed membrane of an inflatable boom, one can also assume better mechanical performance. In the following applicable boom concepts are presented. They all are stowed by flattening the cross- section first and reeling the boom afterwards which is a very volume efficient type of folding. Figure 2-3: DLR's CFRP-boom in semi-deployed Storable Tubular Extendible Member (STEM) [6] configuration. The STEM-boom (see Figure 2-1) has been developed by Northrop-Grumman and has extensive flight C-Shaped, bi-stable boom [4] heritage. It is an open profile boom of circular cross- The University of Surrey has developed a deployable section and is formed from a single composite or metal composite boom with a cross-section of a semi-circle sheet. There are several types of STEM booms such as (see Figure 2-4) which is stable in deployed and stowed the Bi-STEM consisting of two STEMs where one configuration. Its bi-stable properties are achieved by encloses the other. utilizing the lateral contraction of a laminate with a high percentage of fibers oriented around ±45deg. The advantage of the design lies in its ability to be stowed with very little constraint forces and to deploy in a controlled way without the need for a complex deployment mechanism. Figure 2-1: STEM boom (left) and Bi-STEM (right) [6]. Triangular Rollable and Collapsible Mast (TRAC) [7] The TRAC (see Figure 2-2) boom has a v-shaped cross- section and was developed by the US Air Force Research Laboratory for small satellite applications. It was designed with a main focus on maximizing the moment of inertia achievable from a given stowage volume and has flight heritage on NANOSAIL-D2. Figure 2-4: Four C-shaped bi-stable booms attached to the central hub of the GOSSAMER DEORBITER [4]. 3. BOOM CONCEPT ANALYSIS In this section basic information for the selection of the DE-ORBIT SAIL boom concept in section 4 are provided. Of particular interest is the impact of the stowage volume and thereby boom size on the mechanical properties. Therefore boom versions adapted to different stowage volumes are analysed. 3.1. DESIGN OBJECTIVES AND CONSTRAINTS Figure 2-2: Folding of a TRAC boom sample [7]. The objectives for the boom design are given by the Collapsible Tube Mast (CTM) and CFRP-Boom [8] purpose of DE-ORBIT SAIL as a de-orbiting device. The CTM boom and DLR’s CFRP-Boom (see Figure Added to a satellite, it shall not cause significant 2-3) are tube-like booms composed of two symmetrical increase in mass or volume as both will lead to omega-shaped half-shells. Its closed cross-section increased launch costs. Of high importance is also the allows for a high boom length without being endangered scalability of the concept to ensure applicability for a to flexural torsional buckling. It is deployable by wide range of satellites. inflation using an additional internal hose or by a Therefore the design objectives for the DE-ORBIT separate motorized deployment mechanism. SAIL booms are as follows: (a) (b) (c) (d) Figure 3-1: Deployment sequence of the DE-ORBIT SAIL engineering model: (a) fully stowed, (b) prior to in-plane opening of the sails, (c) sail opening and (d) fully deployed. attachment point shall never exceed 1N. The resulting (1) Ensure scalability, maximum load per boom tip is thereby 2N. For the sail (2) Minimize mass, stowage a zigzag folded sail reeled on a central spool is (3) Minimize volume. assumed (for the final DE-ORBIT SAIL design the type of sail stowage has changed; described are the The design constraints are resulting from the mission conditions during the boom development phase). scenario, the cubesat based architecture, mechanical loading, environmental conditions, agreements among Two dimensioning load cases are identified for the consortium partners and others. These constraints are as boom design: follows: (1) Bending due to lateral forces with axial (1) Volume: V ≤ 1U compression during the deployment phase, (2) Mass: m ≤ 500g (2) Axial compression during the deployment and (3) Mechanical loads: FSail ≤ 1N operational phase. (4) Thermal loads The first load case arises when the booms and sails are (5) Interface requirements being deployed. If one of the two sail quadrants attached (6) Material availability to one boom tip becomes slack the boom is loaded (7) Manufacturing limitations asymmetrically and significant bending arises (8) Costs superimposed by axial compression. Decisive for the (9) Research focus of DLR bending load is the in-plane angle of attack of the sail tension force. In the beginning the angle is close to zero The values given for the design constraint (1), (2) and as the sail force is parallel to the booms longitudinal (3) result from agreements among consortium partners. axis. When in-plane opening of the sail quadrant occurs the angle increases to a maximum of 22.5deg at the end 3.2.
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