Mechanical Design and Development of a Modular Drag Sail for the CanX-7 Nanosatellite Mission

The drag sail developed for the CanX-7 nanosatellite mission is an aerodynamic deorbiting device suited to small spacecraft. The drag sail enables spacecraft within a range of bus and orbit properties to comply with international regulations that require newly-launched satellites to be removed from low Earth orbit after their end of mission, with the intent of reducing the rate of orbital debris formation. The overall design uses a modular approach that enables integration with two existing spacecraft busses, and also allows for distributed mounting on notional busses yet to be designed. Additive fabrication allows for complex part geometry that enables the drag sail components to be compactly stowed within a small volume. A model of the deployment mechanism dynamics in terms of basic design parameters reproduces a simplified picture of the operation of the real system at room temperature.