SolarSURFER — CubeSat (6U)
Design work focused on structure, deployables, and systems integration for a solar-sailing CubeSat
Overview
SolarSURFER (Solar Sail Utilizing Radiative Forces Examining Radio-waves) is a 6U CubeSat concept that investigates sail materials, reflectarray high-gain antennas, and inflatable/rigidizable boom deployment to enable solar sailing from LEO. The project pairs sail propulsion experimentation with integrated communications and hyperspectral science instrumentation.
Spacecraft Specs
- Form factor: 6U (30 × 20 × 10 cm) with a ~15 × 15 m sail stowed in 4U
- Primary goals: Sail deployment and material testing, sail-as-HGA reflectarray, and power + instrument integration
- Project artefacts: CAD assemblies, deployment mockups, reflectarray unit-cell HFSS models, and test procedures
Mission Highlights
Sail composition uses ultra-thin CP1/Kapton backbone with Al+Au coatings and targeted reflectarray regions. Features a reflectarray high-gain antenna concept fed by an internal horn and mirror, inflatable/rigidizable booms for deployment and rigidization, sail-mounted thin-film photovoltaic options, and a multi-instrument science payload including a 9-camera hyperspectral array and magnetometers.
My Responsibilities
- Defined the CubeSat chassis and deployable interfaces in Autodesk Fusion
- Sized and packaged the sail stowage and deployment path
- Specified tolerances and assembly sequences
- Performed finite-element checks in Siemens Femap for critical components and load cases
- Created producible drawings, integration checklists, and flat-sat mockup plans to support hardware testing
- Conducted Mathcad trade studies (torque/mass/performance) and produced technical slides for external presentations
Technical Contributions
- Defined sail stow/deploy geometry and folding strategy for reliable deployment from a 4U volume
- Engineered instrument mounting interfaces for reaction wheels, magnetorquers, and a 9-camera hyperspectral payload
- Integrated reflectarray footprint and accommodation into the sail stowage and feed horn placement within the 1U volume
- Prepared assembly and verification sequences (flat-sat, vibration, shock) to de-risk integration and test campaigns
Project Media
