The Daedalus Platform: A Novel Approach to Suborbital Atmospheric Research in the Thermosphere

The re-entry region of the atmosphere presents a unique challenge to study due to its difficulty to access. This region of interest lies in the lower portion of the thermosphere, where the atmosphere transitions from turbulent mixing, where gases are chaotically mixed, to diffusive separation, where gases separate by their molecular properties. High-altitude balloons cannot reach this altitude, and satellites cannot operate here without deorbiting, making it uniquely difficult to access. Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle offers ride share opportunities for an atmospheric research device to further increase understanding of this environment. This paper presents a solution for a research payload designed to integrate and deploy from the New Shepard propulsion module to conduct this data collection. The Daedalus Suborbital Research Platform comprises a deployment system and a capsule containing a suite of sensors designed to measure air mass density within Earth’s thermosphere. The mission begins with the deployment from Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle. Shortly after booster apogee, at an altitude of 110 km, the Daedalus sensor suite capsule will be ejected by the deployment system. This deployment mechanism is based on traditional CubeSat deployers and is equipped with a mechanism to induce spin-stabilization. To ensure that the capsule antennas remain correctly oriented, the Daedalus Platform features a novel system to spin the sensor suite during deployment from New Shepard. This spin stabilization prevents tumbling and ensures our GNSS receiver and satellite transmitter can function properly. A high-precision accelerometer on board Daedalus’ sensor suite will measure drag as it descends from 80km to 110km, a key parameter to compute atmospheric mass density. For position and velocity measurements, a high-accuracy GNSS receiver is used. The Daedalus sensor suite is contained in a capsule that uses a simple aeroshell shape. To estimate the drag coefficient for this aeroshell, we will use free molecular flow and continuum region approaches. To accurately model the complex transitory atmospheric region in the lower thermosphere, this aerodynamic model provides the means to estimate the drag coefficient through combined free molecular and continuum flow methods. With accurate measurements of acceleration, drag coefficient, velocity, and position, we can determine air mass densities and their corresponding altitudes throughout the 80–110 km re-entry region. Following successful data collection, the parachute on board will deploy, and the Daedalus system will transmit this science data to a commercial satellite constellation. The mission ends with a soft landing enabling physical recovery. The Daedalus Suborbital Research Platform presents a unique and effective solution to overcome the challenges of measuring air mass density in suborbital space environments.