Streamlining the ACS3 Solar Sail Manufacturing Process

Poster Image
Streamlining the ACS3 Solar Sail Manufacturing Process
Poster Session
D
Poster Number
01
Project Author(s)
Gabriela Griffin
Institution
Oregon State University | NASA Langley Research Center Internship
Project Description

The Advanced Composites-based Solar Sail System (ACS3) is a technology demonstration project of a solar sail in low earth orbit. ACS3 uses a 12U CubeSat platform with an approximate volume of 24 x 24 x 34 cm. The sail is deployed using composite booms which unroll over the course of 45 minutes. The membrane is made of polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) with one side covered in an aluminum coating to increase reflectivity; the other coated in chromium to increase thermal emissivity. Throughout the course of the internship, the sail membrane manufacturing process document was updated. In addition, a storage container for the sail membrane raw material roll was designed and assembled. Finally, sail and boom structures were modeled using Abaqus in order to understand whether the additional material due to membrane support should be included in analysis.