An Update to the NASA Reference Solar Sail Thrust Model

Heaton, Andrew; Artusio‐Glimpse, Alexandra B.

doi:10.2514/6.2015-4506

Cited by 16 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…For example, for an ideal sail, characterized by a perfectly specular reflection of light and a zero absorption coefficient, the force coefficients are b 1 = b 3 = 0 and b 2 = 1. Assuming, instead, a typical sail film with a highly reflective aluminum-coated front side and a highly emissive chromium-coated back side [13], the values of the force coefficients are b 1 = 0.0723, b 2 = 0.8554, and b 3 = −0.003, in accordance with the recent results by [9]. Note that the maximum (minimum) value of the dimensionless transverse propulsive acceleration T is about 0.3278 (−0.3278), and occurs when α 35.2 deg (α −35.2 deg), see Fig.…”

Section: Solar Sail Force Modelsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In particular, using the force coefficients {b 1 , b 2 , b 3 } calculated with the results by [9], it may be verified that α 74.2 deg and P max 1.64, see Fig. 3.…”

Section: Solar Sail Force Modelmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Figure2: Dimensionless components of propulsive acceleration as a function of the pitch angle for a flat solar sail with an ideal (solid line) and optical (dash line, data taken from[9]) force model.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Logarithmic spiral trajectories generated by Solar sails

Bassetto

Niccolai

Quarta

et al. 2018

Celest Mech Dyn Astr

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Analytic solutions to low-thrust propelled trajectories are available in a few cases only. An interesting case is offered by the logarithmic spiral, that is, a trajectory characterized by a constant flight path angle and a fixed thrust vector direction in an orbital reference frame. The logarithmic spiral is important from a practical point of view, because it may be passively maintained by a solar sail-based spacecraft. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic study concerning the possibility of inserting a solar sail-based spacecraft into a heliocentric logarithmic spiral trajectory without using any impulsive maneuver. The required conditions to be met by the sail in terms of attitude angle, propulsive performance, parking orbit characteristics and initial position are thoroughly investigated. The closed-form variations of the osculating orbital parameters are analyzed, and the obtained analytical results are used for investigating the phasing maneuver of a solar sail along an elliptic heliocentric orbit. In this mission scenario, the phasing orbit is composed of two symmetric logarithmic spiral trajectories joined with a coasting arc.

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Section: Solar Sail Force Modelsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In particular, using the force coefficients {b 1 , b 2 , b 3 } calculated with the results by [9], it may be verified that α 74.2 deg and P max 1.64, see Fig. 3.…”

Section: Solar Sail Force Modelmentioning

confidence: 77%

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Logarithmic spiral trajectories generated by Solar sails

Bassetto

Niccolai

Quarta

et al. 2018

Celest Mech Dyn Astr

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“…where the dot symbol denotes the time derivative, α ∈ [0, π/2] rad is the Sun incidence angle, while R and T are defined as [44,74,75]…”

Section: Inertial Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of Smart Dust architecture, dynamics, and mission applications

Niccolai

Bassetto

Quarta

et al. 2019

Progress in Aerospace Sciences

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“…Note that ρ s = 1 corresponds to a perfectly reflecting solar sail and ρ s = 0 to a perfect solar panel where the photons are absorbed. According to [31,17,16] , a solar sail with a highly reflective aluminum-coated side has an estimated reflectivity coefficient of ρ s ≈ 0.88. However, in this paper the solar sail is assumed to be flat and perfectly reflecting (ρ s = 1).…”

Section: Solar Sail Accelerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Road map to L4/L5 with a solar sail

Farrés

Heiligers

Miguel

2019

Aerospace Science and Technology

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This paper explores the capability of solar sails to transfer a probe from the displaced Sun-Earth L 1 and L 2 libration points to the region of practical stability (RPS) around the triangular equilibrium points L 4 and L 5 . If the sailcraft arrives inside the RPS with zero synodical velocity, it will remain there with minor station keeping requirements. Moreover, the location of the RPS is ideal for space weather missions as the Sun can be observed from a different angle compared to spacecraft orbiting the L 1 point. The unstable manifolds of the displaced L 1 and L 2 points come close to these regions providing opportunities for natural transfer trajectories. By varying the solar sail orientation along the manifold, the dynamics can be altered and simple transfer trajectories that reach the RPS with few sail maneuvers are enabled. However, these trajectories are not optimal from a transfer time perspective, but can serve as suitable initial guesses for a direct optimization method to find minimum-time transfers between the displaced L 1 and L 2 points and the RPS at L 4 and L 5 .

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An Update to the NASA Reference Solar Sail Thrust Model

Cited by 16 publications

References 4 publications

Logarithmic spiral trajectories generated by Solar sails

Logarithmic spiral trajectories generated by Solar sails

A review of Smart Dust architecture, dynamics, and mission applications

Road map to L4/L5 with a solar sail

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