PocketQube Deployment System
A. Narayanan (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Sevket Uludag – Mentor (TU Delft - Space Systems Egineering)
J Guo – Mentor (TU Delft - Space Systems Egineering)
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Abstract
To enable greater access to space, this study aims to develop a cost-effective PocketQube Deployment System capable of deploying multiple PocketQubes from various launch vehicles. Mission cost, of which launch cost is a significant driver, can be reduced by minimizing deployment system mass. This can be achieved by structural analyses of single and multi pod configurations using finite element method. A metric called ‘deployer ratio’, defined as the ratio of payload and deployer mass, is introduced to compare the effectiveness of CubeSat and PocketQube deployers. From the perspective of deployer mass and mission cost, it was observed that it is more efficient to launch PocketQubes from a multi pod deployer rather than a single pod deployer. Although the estimated launch cost for PocketQubes is currently equivalent to commercial manufacturers, further cost reduction is possible by optimizing the mass of such a multi pod deployer.