A research programme for sequential CubeSat deployment with a commanded departure condition. VOLLEY asks whether one host-mounted, reloadable launcher could release ordinary CubeSats one after another, choosing the relative speed for each shot without giving every spacecraft its own propulsion unit.
Mission illustration, not a flight configuration or demonstrated trajectory.
Current status — September 2026: Gen6 is in development. No drive mechanism, speed envelope, flight design or payload interface has been selected or validated. Nothing here has been built, fired, measured, qualified or flown. The engineering record correction explains the withdrawal of an earlier architecture claim.
| The goal | The record today |
|---|---|
| One reusable launch path, sequentially fed from a shared store | A design objective; loading and jam recovery remain unproved |
| A commanded speed for each CubeSat | A design objective; the physical lower and upper limits are open |
| A useful mission benefit without burdening each payload | Under study; full-manifest benefit and complete installed mass are not established |
| An ordinary CubeSat and a compatible host | Intended interfaces; payload loads, provider acceptance and host integration require evidence |
A host would present a CubeSat to one launch path, command its release condition, arrest and reset the mechanism, then feed the next spacecraft. The shared path is the point of the architecture. A bank of separate single-use launch cells does not satisfy it merely by being mounted together.
Conceptual operating sequence. Retention, feeder reliability, recoil recovery and multi-shot speed control still need design and test.
The requested examples of roughly 1–2, 30–40 and 100 m/s are investigation points, not demonstrated settings. For a 4 kg payload, ideal kinetic energy rises from 2 J at 1 m/s to 1,800 J at 30 m/s, 3,200 J at 40 m/s and 20,000 J at 100 m/s. At a hypothetical constant 10 g, reaching 100 m/s would take about 51 m of acceleration distance. Actual contact loads, efficiency, feeder mass and packaging must be evaluated before setting a credible range. No universal CubeSat acceleration rating authorizes these release conditions.
Gen5 CAD rendering: a frozen, modelled electromagnetic configuration with a magazine concept. This is not selected Gen6 hardware or a built article. Explore the CAD record · Read the Gen5 closure
Gen5's calculated 16.029 m/s and 126.6 kg belong to that configuration. The mass is not a complete installed-system comparison. Other CAD and reports in this repository document historical studies; their former selection language has been withdrawn.
P113-S4 is a two-payload ideal-model screen. Its best sampled point, near 4.57 m/s, is not VOLLEY's maximum speed or evidence for a selected mechanism. Read the assumptions and result
The later finite-burn twelve-payload study found no complete delivery among six tested screens; the best delivered 5 of 12. That blocks a completed-manifest claim for those cases without proving that every mission is infeasible.
Calculations, numerical agreement and CAD provide study evidence. They are not measurements or qualification. See the provenance, validation register and open problems.
Compare a shared electromagnetic guide and feeder, other shared drives, small banks, the historical gas and spring studies, and conventional dispensers under the same payload, host, manifest, failure assumptions and complete installed-system accounting. Select a drive only after its load case, control range, interfaces and mission value survive that comparison. Then demonstrate calibrated, repeated releases before claiming performance or reliability.
The earlier independent mechanical-cell bank is retained as a bounded study in VOLLEY-lab. BOLLEY investigates a separate cooperative electromagnetic interface. Neither is the selected Gen6 mechanism.