Miniaturized satellites, also known as CubeSats, have become popular recently due to being cheaper to manufacture, having greatly reduced development cycles, and having simpler integration into modern launch vehicles. All of these features make these satellites more accessible to the average person, allowing hobbyist and others to build and launch their own. Due to the rise in interest, these CubeSats have been advancing in many areas such as propulsion, controls, communication and imaging. Solar sails are a means of propulsion using the photons of the sun on a sail similar to how a boat uses the wind to move. Though the concept of solar sails has been around since the early 1900s, the implementation of them is still being perfected. They are much cheaper and lighter than most forms of propulsion since they don't require the space for and replenishment of fuel. A previous MSD team, P18101, designed and built a CubeSat with an expanding and retracting mechanism for a solar sail. The goal of this year's development of the CubeSat is to change the design to allow for a bigger sail. The current sail it not even 2 feet on each side when unfurled. This is not big enough to generate a usable propulsion through space. We will also work on creating a power system. Solar panels will be installed to generate power.

For more detailed background information, view the Project Readiness Package.

Project Name

CubeSat Solar Sail

Project Number

P19101

Project Family

P18101

Start Term

2181

End Term

2185

Faculty Guide

Art North, ajnddm@rit.edu

Primary Customer

RIT Space Exploration Research Group (SPEX)

Supplemental funding provided by a gift from Harris Corporation

Primary Customer Contacts

James Parkus, President, jep7631@rit.edu

Faculty Champion

Mihail Barbosu, mxbsma@rit.edu

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