Mass-Ejecting Reaction Wheel for CubeSat Small Orbit Corrections

What is it about?

The use of miniaturized satellites, often referred to as nanosatellites, has been surging in past years. Most of these nanosatellites are design based on the CubeSat standard, which includes specifications of volume, electrical interfaces, and launcher interfaces. However, one of the main issues with CubeSats is designing a propulsion system that would satisfy the stringent specifications. In this paper, we propose modifying existing systems, used for CubeSat rotational control, for providing a propulsion means for CubeSats. These systems are reaction wheels, which are also called momentum storage devices. We propose using the rotational speed of the reaction wheel to eject masses from the satellite, thus providing a means for small orbit corrections. This can be applied, for example, to correct orbit injection errors.

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