A preliminary study of the dynamics and control of the cubesail spacecraft

The proposed study addresses two issues related to the slow emergence of solar sailing as a viable space propulsion method. The low technology readiness level and complications related to stowage, deployment, and support of the sail structure are both addressed by combining the CU Aerospace and University of Illinois-developed UltraSail1-5 and Cubesat expertise to design a small-scale solar sail deployment and propulsion experiment in low Earth orbit. The study analyzes multiple aspects of the problem from initial sizing and packaging of the solar sail film into two Cubesat-class spacecraft, through on-orbit deployment dynamics, attitude control of large and flexible space structure, and predictions of performance and orbital maneuvering capability.