Spinnaker-3 (CP 15) / Firefly Capsule 1

Spinnaker-3/Firefly Capsule 1 [Purdue University]

Spinnaker-3 / Firefly Capsule 1 are some payloads attached to the maiden Firefly-Alpha rocket stage.

The Spinnaker-3 (CP 15) payload is a collaboration between the Cal Poly Cubesat Lab, Purdue University, and NASA. It will deploy an 18 m² dragsail to provide deorbit capability for the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle upper stage. The payload is composed of an 8U dragsail device with a 1U avionics box and a 12U stilt system for raising the mechanism above other payloads situated on top of the payload ring.

The dragsail device consists of four 3 m SHEARLESS carbon fiber booms wrapped around a single hub and four transparent CP-1 sail quadrants. A single stepper motor will actuate sail deployment and two cameras mounted to the avionics box will capture images of sail deployment. A half-duplex UHF-band radio and a dipole antenna will provide uplink and downlink capability to tracking stations at Purdue University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for mission operations.

The Firefly Capsule 1 consists of various nontechnical items from around the world such as photos, artwork, and children’s books.

The satellite is one of the passengers on the maiden launch of the Firefly-Alpha rocket.

A second Firefly Capsule 2 was a passenger on the second Firefly-Alpha rocket, but the orbit was lower than planned.