Bi-Fold Fan DragSail with Surface Area Modulation Capability

NeXolve has developed a drag sail under its Phase II SBIR contract. This has involved the creation of new booms, sails, and deployer. In parallel NeXolve has worked with another commercial company, supplying booms and sails for their drag sail products. NeXolve plans to commercialize its drag sail technology be creating a smaller deployer to deploy a 2-square-meter drag sail, suitable for the CubeSat market. NeXolve plans to manufacture and integrate a complete drag sail, which the other commercial company will market as part of its larger drag sail product line. NeXolve has received a grant from the Innovate Alabama program to perform part of the required development work. Phase II-E matching funds would bridge the gap to bring this commercial drag sail to completion. Development will begin by downsizing the deployer developed under the Phase II SBIR to the appropriate size and the form and fit to match the other company’s catalog. Development of a 1-meter 0.75” flat width Elgiloy boom will be completed. The 2-square-meter sail will be developed and manufactured. All components will be integrated into a test and demonstration unit. This will be tested in relevant environments to reach a TRL 6 level. In addition, NeXolve will use this funding to expand its deployable boom catalog for commercial sales and government projects. NeXolve will expand it’s boom manufacturing capability to create any length of boom up to 5 meters. NeXolve will develop and in-house boom characterization capability and use it to characterize all the new booms in its catalog.

The proposed DragSail system is relevant to numerous NASA applications. Some specific NASA applications for the proposed DragSail system include: Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) Hyperspectral Thermal Imager (HyTI) Some more general NASA applications include: Numerous NASA Earth Science missions. Numerous NASA Technology and Exploration missions. NASA 2020 Technology Taxonomy - Passive Reentry Systems for SmallSats subtopic (TX09.1.3)

Due to the mandated deorbit requirements, almost any future Earth orbiting small satellite or CubeSat is a potential application for the proposed DragSail system. Some specific Non-NASA applications for the proposed DragSail system include: SpaceX - Starlink program Amazon - Project Kuiper CubeSats and small satellites built by universities and government institutions.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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