The students from the Warsaw University of Technology continue to design their second satellite, which will be launched into orbit next year.
PW-Sat2 was being designed since the beginning of 2013 and is a satellite which is created in accordance with the CubeSat 2U standard. It means that PW-Sat2 is twice as big as its predecessor – PW-Sat. This allows the possibility of conducting additional experiments.
The main experiment of the PW-Sat2 project is the deorbitation sail. The square-shaped sail after opening will decrease the its orbital speed, which will result in atmospheric burning of the satellite. This the team’s strategy to counteract the problem of space debris: defunct satellites or their minor remnants orbiting the Earth, which cause jeopardy to functioning objects and astronauts onboard the International Space Station.
Members of the Students’ Space Association have recently completed the B phase of the project. This means that the majority of subsystems are at an advanced stage of design and in the near future the team will make the decision concerning their final versions. It will allow to carry on with the project and execute professional tests. Likewise at the end of the A phase, the team is committed to prepare professional documentation of the project. The completed documentation may be soon found on the team’s website.
Apart from the professional documentation containing numerous designs and technical details, the team has prepared a press kit for the general public. The press kit describes the main assumptions of the project and its experiments: the deorbitation sail, the sun sensor, cameras and deployable solar panels. Also the proposal of cooperation with the students can be found, who are looking for funds necessary for launching PW-Sat2 into orbit.
The press kit both in the Polish and English version is available on the PW-Sat2’s website.
