CubeSats are small form factor satellites based on standard specifications introduced in 1999. They are used in all space sectors, primarily in research. The low risk, low cost, and methods of transport to orbit as secondary payloads to larger missions makes them well suited for universities and research institutions interested in furthering space exploration, science, and technology development. RIT’s own student organization, SPEX (space exploration), has been developing and proposing CubeSat missions for several years. The main payload for this mission is a Solar Sail.

Solar sails are a method of "fuel-less" propulsion in that the effective propellant are photons. Solar sails are a very popular topic of research currently due to the possibility of constant propulsion over a long-term mission, a good example of this is the Starshot mission that is currently under investigation by multiple universities and institutions. Standard solar sailing works on the specular reflection of photons. There is a quantum mechanical equation called "the Energy-Momentum equivalence" which relates the momentum and mass of a particle to its energy. In equation form,

E2 = p2 c2 + m2 c4

Where p is the momentum, c is the speed of light, and m is the mass of the particle. As stated above, a photon does not have mass thus this equation reduces to the common form,

E = p c

This equation shows that photons have momentum and when they hit another object they will transfer their momentum to that object based off their incident angle.

The addition of diffractive elements on the solar sail will enable a controlled photon reflection angle. The primary scientific objective is to prove that diffractive solar sails are effective in practice. The way this will be implemented is by adding small elements of diffractive elements on the perimeter of the sail to induce a torque around the longitudinal axis of the CubeSat (that is, the axis normal to the smallest cross-section of the structure). Then the CubeSat will use on-board accelerometers to measure the resultant torque and compare that signal to a simulated (theoretical) signal which will show the team whether or not the diffractive was effective.

The previous team, P19101, redesigned the solar sail deployment system and started to build an electrical system. The goal of this year's development is to get the sail fully deployed, design an ADCS to determine the cubesat's position and adjust the sail, and integrate a communication system to send a downlink to an RIT ground station. We will also work on designing an experiment to show if the solar sail is changing the cubesat's orbit, and writing a mission plan.

For an updated project description, click on the following link for the Project Readiness Package.

Project Name

3U CubeSat: Solar Sail

Project Number

P20101

Project Family

P19101, P18101

Start Term

2191 (Fall 2019)

End Term

2195 (Spring 2020)

Faculty Guide

Art North, ajnddm@rit.edu

Primary Customer

RIT SPEX, NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)

Faculty Champion

Dr. Mihail Barbosu, mxbsma@rit.edu

Faculty Stakeholder

Dr. Grover Swartzlander

Collaborating MSD Project

P20151: LASSO

Planning & Execution

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