Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/3301
Date of Award
6-2026
Degree Name
MS in Aerospace Engineering
Department/Program
Aerospace Engineering
College
College of Engineering
Advisor
Kira Abercromby
Advisor Department
Aerospace Engineering
Advisor College
College of Engineering
Abstract
As low Earth orbit (LEO) has become an increasingly valuable region for satellite operations, it has grown increasingly congested. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deorbit regulations require satellites to be deorbited within 5 years of launch, and drag sails represent a practical means of meeting this requirement. An important consideration for drag sail design is the effect of atomic oxygen (AO) on sail materials. To address the gap in the literature regarding the behavior of stressed drag sail materials under AO exposure, a new test plate was manufactured for the California Polytechnic State University minimum atmospheric experimentation (MAX) AO chamber. A 3×3 full factorial experimental design was conducted with 3 exposure durations (2, 4, and 6 hours) and 3 stress levels (0 PSI, 4835.2 PSI, and 9670.4 PSI), using Ecliptic Enterprises single-sided aluminized Mylar® tested on the coated side. The response variable was the percent area exposed, measured using ImageJ.
Tests were done at fluences of 1.306 × 1020, 2.064 × 1020, and 2.778 × 1020 atoms/cm2 for the 2, 4, and 6-hour durations, respectively, as determined using Kapton® witness samples. A zero-inflated beta Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) revealed a statistically significant effect of stress on area exposure of the Mylar®. Across all test conditions, the estimated mean sail area percentage remaining after AO exposure ranged from 98.55% to 99.95%. The resulting degradation was applied to a deorbit simulation based on NanoSail-D2 parameters, with the maximum difference in deorbit time across all test cases being 55.728 minutes. Ultimately, stressed suspension of drag sails exhibits greater degradation than unstressed cases under AO exposure, though the resulting orbital impact was found to be small.