Welcome to the project page for the CubeSat Solar Sail Attitude Control Team. Navigate this page to explore multimedia, presentations, documents, and resources relating to the senior design project
CUBESAT
AT CAL STATE LA
CUBESAT RESEARCH LAB
Welcome to the CubeSat Cal State LA research lab page. We are a multidisciplinary engineering research lab overseen by Dr. Ni Li. Please contact Dr. Li at nli12@calstatela.edu for any questions relating to our research or available student positions.
RESEARCH OVERVIEW
Solar sailing is a method of spacecraft propulsion technology using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on a large reflective surface. An attitude control system is essential for a sail spacecraft to maintain a desired orientation.
The goal of this project is to demonstrate the mechanical actuation of solar sails as a novel form of attitude control on CubeSat spacecraft.
In 2017, this project was adopted by the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology at Cal State LA as a Senior Design project. The senior design program was led by Ted Nye and Dr. Michael Thorburn. Dr. Ni Li and Karl Salinas assumed the roles of principal investigator and industry advisor, respectively.
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
A subsonic wind tunnel was constructed to provide a laminar flow field to mimic the uniform vector field due to solar radiation pressure (SRP).
a test chamber within which a small scale test article may navigate.
experimentally tune, test, verify control algorithms using a data-driven approach.
using MATLAB, Simulink, and Solidworks CFD
"Beta"
Paddle
IMU
3D Printed
Enclosure
"Alpha"
Paddle
LiPoly Battery
Servo
"Alpha"
Paddle
HOVER TO INTERACT
FIGURE 1. TEST ARTICLE
TEST ARTICLE
The experimental test article (Figure 1) consists of an inertial measurement unit (IMU), Bluetooth-enabled microcontroller, and servos that actuate “solar vanes.” The test article was used to wirelessly stream angle data from inside the wind tunnel, and receive commands from a smartphone. While the envisioned craft consists of four independently rotatable solar vanes, this test article uses a simplified two-solar sail setup to constrain rotation to one axis.
WIND TUNNEL TESTBED
Due to the limitations of testing solar radiation pressure on Earth, a test chamber that would allow a small scale test article to rotate was designed. The result was a subsonic wind tunnel (Figure 2) that was drawing in air as opposed to the conventional blowing of air towards the object.
The wind tunnel was made from cardboard with inner plastic lining to maintain a laminar flow throughout. The structure was outfitted with PVC pipe for support, viewing window, and LED lighting.
The test article was strung up by two custom threaded rods affixed to the top and bottom that allowed for only z-axis rotation (Figure 3). Rotation was achieved by implementing thrust roller bearings on both the top and bottom surfaces of the cube.
FIGURE 2. WIND TUNNEL
