Session
Year in Review
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
ACS3 (Advanced Composite Solar Sail System) was a technology demonstration mission for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration1, to demonstrate the deployment of a solar sail of size 80m2 from a new NASA-developed compact deployable composite boom2 packaged in a 12U CubeSat. The extended objective of the mission was to perform attitude control and orbit maneuvering. ACS3 was successfully launched on 24 April 2024 local time via Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B in Mahia, New Zealand. Following four months of commissioning operations, the solar sail was deployed on 28 August 2024, achieving the primary objective of the mission. There were challenges throughout all phases of the mission. The first part of this paper will discuss the result of the demonstration and the technical challenges encountered during the mission. The second part of the paper focuses what has been learned regarding the development and execution of a solar sail mission. Based on the results of the mission, this paper will also provide some recommendations for future solar sail SmallSat or CubeSat missions.
Document Type
Event
ACS3 Results and Lesson Learned
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
ACS3 (Advanced Composite Solar Sail System) was a technology demonstration mission for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration1, to demonstrate the deployment of a solar sail of size 80m2 from a new NASA-developed compact deployable composite boom2 packaged in a 12U CubeSat. The extended objective of the mission was to perform attitude control and orbit maneuvering. ACS3 was successfully launched on 24 April 2024 local time via Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B in Mahia, New Zealand. Following four months of commissioning operations, the solar sail was deployed on 28 August 2024, achieving the primary objective of the mission. There were challenges throughout all phases of the mission. The first part of this paper will discuss the result of the demonstration and the technical challenges encountered during the mission. The second part of the paper focuses what has been learned regarding the development and execution of a solar sail mission. Based on the results of the mission, this paper will also provide some recommendations for future solar sail SmallSat or CubeSat missions.
