[AR] Re: drag brakes (was Re: Cubesats orbital grenades ?)
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2017 16:02:57 -0500 (EST)
On Fri, 15 Dec 2017, John Dom wrote:
Maybe mentioned already but as far as I can make out, to de-orbit
cubesats with a built-in brake rocket is best & simplest. If fired in
the correct trajectory i.e..
"If". :-) I was just reminded that we've recently had a conspicuous bad
example: the D-SAT cubesat, launched in June to a 500km polar orbit, was
primarily a demo of a solid-motor deorbit system. The motor was fired on
Oct. 2nd, but either it was misaligned or there was some other problem,
and the satellite tumbled during the burn. The burn was meant to lower
perigee about 600km, producing an immediate reentry; instead, it ended up
*raising* perigee about 200km!
Henry
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