PEZ: Expanding CubeSat Capabilities through Innovative Mechanism Design

Since the beginning of the CubeSat program, developers have been pushing the envelope of the capabilities that can be achieved in such a small and standardized package. As CubeSat missions have become more complicated the external surface area of these cubes has become a limiting factor for the missions. In order to harvest as much power as possible, the external surfaces are usually dedicated solely to solar arrays, thus limiting the external surface area that can be used for the primary mission. The ALL-STAR mechanical team has developed an innovative and unique system that allows for both the electrical power subsystem engineer and the science instrument engineer to have full access to the exterior of the satellite without sacrificing any of the quality or capabilities of the CubeSat and its overall mission. In order to accomplish this, the ALL-STAR team has developed mechanisms that deploy both solar arrays and the payload section from the standard 3U CubeSat. The PEZ (Payload Extension Zone) effectively doubles the available area for the solar array on the CubeSat as well as allowing the payload to have access to the exterior of the satellite. These mechanisms are also innovative in that they use simple concepts and mechanisms to greatly reduce their impact on the mass and volume of the CubeSat as a whole. Through this cooperative design between maximum power collection and payload access, the ALL-STAR bus will allow for even greater CubeSat capabilities to be achieved.