Configuration Optimization and Folding Scheme Design for Membrane Drag-Augmentation Devices

To mitigate the generation of space debris, equipping constellation satellites with active deorbiting devices is considered a necessary mitigation measure. In low Earth orbit (LEO), space environmental perturbations, particularly atmospheric drag, significantly affect spacecraft. Therefore, drag-augmentation deorbiting devices, such as deorbiting sails and drag balloons, can be employed to increase the effective area of the spacecraft, thereby enhancing environmental forces and enabling rapid deorbiting. This paper focuses on planar deorbiting sails, pyramidal deorbiting sails, and drag balloons within the category of membrane-based drag-augmentation deorbiting devices. A system dynamics model incorporating these deorbiting devices is established to analyze the active deorbiting process of spacecraft. The attitude dynamics equations for both deorbiting sails and drag balloons are subjected to nonlinear analysis to derive the conditions for system attitude stability. Based on the analysis results, the feasible domain for stable configurations of drag-augmentation deorbiting devices is determined, achieving attitude self-stabilization of the drag-augmentation deorbiting system. Subsequently, a high-density, low-damage folding scheme for the membrane is designed based on the optimized configuration. Various folding schemes, such as the Miura-ori and Z-folding, are compared in terms of folded volume, deployed volume, and damaged area. The folding parameters are optimized by balancing the metrics of high density and low damage. The findings of this study contribute to improving the deorbiting efficiency and safety reliability of membranebased drag-augmentation deorbiting devices.