Launched on top of an orion rocket our experiment will reach an altitude of about 100 kilometers. In this height we will have the possibility to test the deployment and the mechanism for a 5 m² sail under realistic conditions, i.e. no atmospheric disturbances and microgravity.
With regards to a future utilization in a CubeSat the guiding line is to build the deployment mechanism in accordance with the standards for CubeSats. For instance this means it has to fit into a 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm cube. Our experiment EDOD aims to qualify the deployment mechanism by recording the sail deployment with cameras. The time period of interest is only 2 seconds long.

Source: P. Seefeldt, H.-G. Reimerdes, B. Dachwald; Vorentwicklung eines Widerstandssegels 2011

With EDOD we have the following objectives:

• We want to qualify the deployment mechanism by recording the correct deployment of the sail with cameras.
• We want to qualify a self-constructed camera module. This module shall accomplish the high demands of recording a sail deployment. Furthermore the camera should be usable for similar functions during a future CubeSat mission.
• We want to use a sensor measuring the rotation of the bobbin on which the sail is coiled. By this means we would have an additional confirmation of the deployment and its velocity.
• We want to analyze the kinematics of the sail and the booms by using the method of 3D-photogrammetry.