A Cubesat Centrifuge for Long Duration Milligravity Research

TL;DR

This paper proposes a low-cost 3U cubesat centrifuge to simulate asteroid-like milligravity environments for long-duration research, enabling advancements in planetary science, human spaceflight, and in-situ resource utilization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, compact cubesat design capable of generating milligravity conditions, with a first flight demonstration using meteorite fragments to simulate asteroid surface environments.

Findings

Cubesat can spin at 1 rpm to produce asteroid-like gravity

First flight demonstrated regolith accumulation under milligravity conditions

Design adaptable for use on ISS for variable gravity experiments

Abstract

We advocate a low-cost strategy for long-duration research into the 'milligravity' environment of asteroids, comets and small moons, where surface gravity is a vector field typically less than 1/1000 the gravity of Earth. Unlike the microgravity environment of space, there is a directionality that gives rise, over time, to strangely familiar geologic textures and landforms. In addition to advancing planetary science, and furthering technologies for hazardous asteroid mitigation and in-situ resource utilization, simplified access to long-duration milligravity offers significant potential for advancing human spaceflight, biomedicine and manufacturing. We show that a commodity 3U ($10\times10\times34$ cm$^3$) cubesat containing a laboratory of loose materials can be spun to 1 rpm = $2\pi/60$ s$^{-1}$ on its long axis, creating a centrifugal force equivalent to the surface gravity of a kilometer-sized asteroid. We describe the first flight demonstration, where small meteorite fragments will pile up to create a patch of real regolith under realistic asteroid conditions, paving the way for subsequent missions where landing and mobility technology can be flight-proven in the operational environment, in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). The 3U design can be adapted for use onboard the International Space Station (ISS) to allow for variable gravity experiments under ambient temperature and pressure for a broader range of experiments.