Session
Science/Mission Payloads Research & Academia
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
DeSCENT (Demonstration of Suborbital ChipSats Ejected from New Shepard Test Flight) aims to deploy 100 ChipSats –gram-scale spacecraft– from Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle. Led by students of the Cornell University Space Systems Design Studio in collaboration with JHU-APL, the experiment characterizes ChipSat dispersion and free-fall kinematics from the K´arm´an line while exploring their potential for distributed sensing for atmospheric science. This paper outlines the design, integration, and test of the ChipSat deployer to be mounted on the New Shepard propulsion module in coordination with the JHU-APL JANUS payload. Details are shared on the overall mechanical design, driven by mission requirements, as well as insights from the hardware development carried out by multiple generations of Cornell students. Ejection, thermal, and vibration testing demonstrates repeatable and reliable ChipSat deployment under near-launch conditions.
Document Type
Event
Mechanical Design of a 100-ChipSat Suborbital Deployer for the DeSCENT Mission
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
DeSCENT (Demonstration of Suborbital ChipSats Ejected from New Shepard Test Flight) aims to deploy 100 ChipSats –gram-scale spacecraft– from Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle. Led by students of the Cornell University Space Systems Design Studio in collaboration with JHU-APL, the experiment characterizes ChipSat dispersion and free-fall kinematics from the K´arm´an line while exploring their potential for distributed sensing for atmospheric science. This paper outlines the design, integration, and test of the ChipSat deployer to be mounted on the New Shepard propulsion module in coordination with the JHU-APL JANUS payload. Details are shared on the overall mechanical design, driven by mission requirements, as well as insights from the hardware development carried out by multiple generations of Cornell students. Ejection, thermal, and vibration testing demonstrates repeatable and reliable ChipSat deployment under near-launch conditions.
