Session
Year in Review
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
DiskSat is a novel spacecraft design that uses a disk-shaped form factor, 1 meter in diameter but only 2.5 cm in depth, to provide unprecedented power-to-mass ratio in a nanosatellite and the potential to operate long-term in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). The inaugural flight of four DiskSats launched on 18 December 2025 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on an Electron rocket, which delivered the satellites to a 550-km altitude orbit at an inclination of 45 deg. Developing DiskSat’s two-dimensional form factor presented a myriad of challenges for power generation, thermal management, attitude control, and deployment that could only be tested with a real-world flight. This paper reports on the performance and lessons learned from the first six months of operations. We review the integration of the DiskSats into the DiskSat Dispenser, which was its own custom development, and the integration of the Dispenser onto the Electron rocket. Following launch, we review the process of making first contact, initiating early-orbit checkout and tracking all four vehicles simultaneously, and troubleshooting the power subsystem. Within two weeks of launch, attitude-control checkout had completed and the DiskSats were flying in their desired edge-on configuration, which reduces drag for VLEO flight and presents the disk face to the Sun, enabling power generation in excess of 100 W in each 17-kg spacecraft with stored energy of up to 282 W-hrs. Each DiskSat carries a Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) system that provides 300 μN of thrust and up to 700 m/s of delta-V. The FEEP thruster provides sufficient thrust to maintain an altitude as low as 250 km for more than one year. We report on our experience commissioning these FEEP thrusters and operating them for many days continuously to both raise and lower the DiskSats’ orbits. We will describe the process of lowering the first DiskSat progressively to lower altitudes into VLEO and show how the attitude-control subsystem managed the unconventional torque environment and maintained the stability of the vehicle. Several months of successful DiskSat operations have demonstrated the viability of this new form factor and opened up the option of high-power and low-altitude applications not possible before for the nanosatellite community.
Document Type
Event
DiskSat: On-Orbit Performance and Lessons Learned From the Inaugural Flight of Two-Dimensional Satellites
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
DiskSat is a novel spacecraft design that uses a disk-shaped form factor, 1 meter in diameter but only 2.5 cm in depth, to provide unprecedented power-to-mass ratio in a nanosatellite and the potential to operate long-term in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). The inaugural flight of four DiskSats launched on 18 December 2025 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on an Electron rocket, which delivered the satellites to a 550-km altitude orbit at an inclination of 45 deg. Developing DiskSat’s two-dimensional form factor presented a myriad of challenges for power generation, thermal management, attitude control, and deployment that could only be tested with a real-world flight. This paper reports on the performance and lessons learned from the first six months of operations. We review the integration of the DiskSats into the DiskSat Dispenser, which was its own custom development, and the integration of the Dispenser onto the Electron rocket. Following launch, we review the process of making first contact, initiating early-orbit checkout and tracking all four vehicles simultaneously, and troubleshooting the power subsystem. Within two weeks of launch, attitude-control checkout had completed and the DiskSats were flying in their desired edge-on configuration, which reduces drag for VLEO flight and presents the disk face to the Sun, enabling power generation in excess of 100 W in each 17-kg spacecraft with stored energy of up to 282 W-hrs. Each DiskSat carries a Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP) system that provides 300 μN of thrust and up to 700 m/s of delta-V. The FEEP thruster provides sufficient thrust to maintain an altitude as low as 250 km for more than one year. We report on our experience commissioning these FEEP thrusters and operating them for many days continuously to both raise and lower the DiskSats’ orbits. We will describe the process of lowering the first DiskSat progressively to lower altitudes into VLEO and show how the attitude-control subsystem managed the unconventional torque environment and maintained the stability of the vehicle. Several months of successful DiskSat operations have demonstrated the viability of this new form factor and opened up the option of high-power and low-altitude applications not possible before for the nanosatellite community.
