DISKSat

DISKSat, developed by The Aerospace Corporation, is a demonstration mission for a new disk shaped flat-bed satellite form factor.

The DiskSat is a quasi-two-dimensional satellite bus architecture designed for applications requiring high power, large apertures, and/or high maneuverability in a low-mass containerized satellite. A representative DiskSat structure is a composite flat panel, 1 meter in diameter and 2.5 cm thick. The volume is almost 20 liters, equivalent to a hypothetical 20U CubeSat, while the structural mass is less than 3 kg. The surface area is large enough to host over 200 W of solar cells without deployable solar panels. For launch, multiple DiskSats are stacked in a fully enclosed container/deployer using a simple mechanical interface and are released individually in orbit.

The Aerospace Corporation, with the support of the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), is preparing a flight of four DiskSats for launch in 2025 to demonstrate the feasibility of both the dispenser and the DiskSat bus. In addition, the flight is expected to demonstrate several features of the DiskSat including the unprecedented high power-to-mass ratio, the maneuverability of the bus using low-thrust electric propulsion, and the ability to fly continuously in a low-drag orientation, enabling operations in very low Earth orbits (VLEO).

The DiskSats will be launched in and deployed from a dispenser that provides a containerized rideshare environment; the dispenser fully encloses the DiskSats during launch and then opens to dispense the satellites one at a time once in orbit. The dispenser is modular in design and expandable from the capacity of four DiskSats for this flight to as many as 20 DiskSats for future flights. It remains attached to the upper stage.

The demonstration mission will be launched on the STP-S30 mission via the Space Test program on an Electron KS from Wallops Island.

References:

• Richard Welle, Catherine Venturini, David Hinkley, Joseph Gangestad, Sara Grasso, Anastasia Muszynski: DiskSat: Demonstration Mission for a Two-Dimensional Satellite Architecture

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