Space Systems Design Studio

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Project Results

2009 FAST Program Results

A Space Systems Design Studio team was accepted by the NASA Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training (FAST) program for microgravity flights in 2009. The team flew two mockup CubeSat vehicles and a dewar containing cryocooled supercondcutors through 67 microgravity parabolas on a Zero-G Corporation aircraft. These flights demonstrated the flux-pinning concept in small spacecraft, with low stiffness and small separation distances. One mockup satellite pinned to the superconductors in all six degrees of freedom and contained electromagnets capable of actuating the relative position of the CubeSat and dewar in 6DOF. The second mockup satellite contained magnets arranged in a flux-pinned revolute joint.

Project Publications and Presentations

• Summary of the 2009 FAST flight presented at the 2009 AIAA Region I YPSE Conference.
• Microgravity Demonstration of Flux Pinning for Station Keeping and Reconfiguration of CubeSat-Sized Spacecraft