page_title: InflateSail
section_title: Altitude loss
hierarchical_section_title: InflateSail / Altitude loss
caption_attribution_description: English: InflateSail Orbit Average Height for August 2017
context_page_description: InflateSail was a 3U CubeSat launched on PSLV C38 on 23 June 2017 into a 505 km polar Sun-synchronous orbit. It carried a 1 m long inflatable rigidizable mast, and a 10 m² drag-deorbiting sail. Its primary aim was to demonstrate the effectiveness of drag based deorbiting from low Earth orbit. Built by Surrey Space Centre of the University of Surrey, it was one of the Technology Demonstrator CubeSats for the QB50 mission. An identical drag sail payload was planned to be included on the RemoveDEBRIS demonstrator.
context_section_description: InflateSail successfully deployed its sail approximately one hour after ejection from the launch vehicle and was the first European sail successfully deployed in space. InflateSail rapidly lost altitude and decayed on 3 September 2017 after 72 days in orbit.
caption: Change in average orbit height during August 2017[11]
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