Low-Cost Deployment Systems for Suborbital Plasma Measurements: AURA and VECTR

The GHOST (Grand cHallenge MesOsphere Student rockeT) mission is a student-led sounding rocket project in collaboration with NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, undergraduate teams from universities in the United States and Norway, RockSat supported by the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, and the Andøya Space Center. The mission provides a platform for suborbital experiments on a Terrier-Improved Malemute launch vehicle, which reaches an altitude of approximately 250 km. The Clemson University team's payload section demonstrates a low-cost, reliable deployable payload systems while providing scientific measurements under the cost, reliability, and vibration survivability constraints typical of sounding rocket launches. The primary science goal was to investigate ionospheric properties by measuring electron density. A high-frequency (HF) radio receiver captures ground-based signals using a deployable antenna, and a fixed-bias Langmuir probe collects in-situ electron density measurements, enabling complementary radio and plasma observations of the upper atmosphere. Two student-built deployment mechanisms achieve these objectives. The Antenna Unfurling Release Assembly (AURA) houses a spring-steel tapemeasure antenna restrained with fishing line, which is severed by a nichrome burn wire to enable deployment. The antenna is coupled to the HF radio receiver. The Velocity-Enabled Controlled Telescoping Rod (VECTR) is an active telescoping boom with concentric sections guided on brass rails and driven by a central spring. It is restrained by a pin engaged with a cam gear and released by a servo motor, positioning the fixed-bias Langmuir probe for electron density measurements. The complete system, including two AURAs and one VECTR, was constructed for approximately $ 400. Ground testing at Wallops Flight Facility included vibration, spin balance, and sequence testing, demonstrating repeatable actuation and mechanical robustness. These mechanisms provide a pathway for student groups and resource-limited missions to achieve reliable deployable payload capability and illustrate how low-cost deployables can expand the scientific capabilities of sounding rocket missions.