CPCL’s “Spinnaker3” Launches Aboard the Firefly Alpha Rocket
NICO VINUELA | SEPTEMBER 2, 2021
In the early days of space exploration, most space shuttles would launch carrying a single giant telecommunications satellite that would send many different signals back to Earth. Nowadays, it is increasingly common to see the roles of large satellites being taken over by many more, smaller satellites that can serve specific niches for their respective users.
In many ways, this is great for space technology; as small satellites become further suited for very precise tasks, scientists are better able to analyze and process information about space. However small, though, more satellites in space are making way for the build up of machine clutter in the various levels of the atmosphere. We now face a new problem: space debris.
This is where Spinnaker3 comes in. It will serve as a preventative measure against space clutter; its main purpose is to demonstrate that it can de-orbit rocket bodies that float around space aimlessly, which are at risk of potentially colliding with each other.
“When that happens, it creates a sort of chain reaction,” says Mission Lead Cole Fehring. Space infrastructure being destroyed could have some “horrible adverse effects,” he says, and could potentially mean that new satellites can’t be launched into space for 10 to 20 years until the old machinery gradually de-orbits.
Spinnaker3 is a collaboration between the Cal Poly CubeSat Lab and Purdue University. Think of it as having two parts: one is the main body housing the payload, made by Purdue University’s labs, and the other is a small tophat-shaped computer, made by Cal Poly CubeSat. The two pieces are bolted together and connected by a cable, which allows for the computer to send commands to the body as a means of getting it to move.
Spinnaker3 will launch aboard the inaugural flight of the Firefly Alpha rocket, developed by Firefly Aerospace. It will help de-orbit the rocket’s upper stage once Firefly Alpha’s mission is completed.
Cal Poly’s end of the project first underwent development in 2019 under Liam Bruno, whose role was passed onto Brigitte Petersen after he graduated. After that, Pablo Casillas and Fehring split the responsibility to take on the project’s Lead role.
“This is definitely what I want to do as a career,” says Fehring. “The upper management part really interests me.”
Fehring’s role as Mission Lead allows him to coordinate timelines for everyone working under him, as well as communicating with Purdue’s labs about information regarding the project. He is also involved in writing procedures and organizing the teams working on the project.
Though the mission hasn’t been around for very long, the Cal Poly CubeSat Lab has enlisted the help of many of its members to help with all aspects of the project. Madison Lytle, a second-year student double-majoring in aerospace engineering and math, says she started working on the project “incidentally.”
“I showed up knowing nothing,” she says. “I just kind of ended up working on it.”
Because of the pandemic, many of CubeSat’s members were not on campus to work on the project. Lytle just so happened to find herself in San Luis Obispo over the summer, and so she spent about 30 hours a week working on the assembly of the Spinnaker3 hardware. It was rewarding, she says, to be part of a team working towards the de-orbiting of space debris, which many believe will be important to the future of the space industry.
Though most non-engineers don’t know much about space debris, Fehring says there is fast-growing concern about it throughout the space technology world. He says that de-orbiting mechanisms like Spinnaker3 are a necessary next step in mainstream space exploration.
Cal Poly’s CubeSat Lab is excited to be a part of this future and see Spinnaker3 launch on September 2, 2021.
September 3, 2021 UPDATE: Firefly Alpha experienced an anomaly during its ascent yesterday evening and did not reach orbit. Unfortunately Spinnaker3 was also lost and was unable to complete its mission.