| Spacecraft name | NanoSail-D |
|---|---|
| Spacecraft type | CubeSat |
| Units or mass | 3U |
| Entity name | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |
| Institution | Space agency |
| Entity | Government (Civil / Military) |
| Country | US |
| Launch brokerer | Cal Poly, ? |
| Oneliner |
Deploy solar sail for deorbiting. |
| Description |
Establish ARC-MSFC collaborative relationship for future small satellite initiatives. Deploy a 10 m² solar sail leveraging work by MSFC approved under the SMD In-Space Propulsion Program. Demo Orbital Debris Mitigation technology – drag sail. Ground Imaging to reduce spacecraft instrumentation. Add to flight experience – ARC Bus "light" experience. The sail is made of an ultra-thin reflective polymer called CP-1. It is 7.5 microns thick and has a surface area of approximately 10 square meters. The sail is wound tightly around a central hub. When the sail deploys, four booms spring out to unfurl the sail and support its structure. The booms are each 2.2 meters long when fully deployed. The nine-pound sail subsystem was provided by ManTech/NeXolve in Huntsville, Ala. |
| Sources | [1] [2] |
| Photo sources | [1] [2] |
| Keywords | Solar sail, Propulsion |
Related Spacecraft
| Satellite | Status | Rocket | Launch | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NanoSail-D | Launch failure | Falcon 1 | 2008-08-03 | Launch failure |
| NanoSail-D2 | Was operational until 2011-01-21, 4 days, batteries were drained. Deployed from FASTSAT on 2011-01-17. | Minotaur IV | 2010-11-20 | 630 km, 72 deg |
Last modified: 2024-05-29
