Evolution of the Orbit of an Earth Satellite with a Solar Sail

The efficiency of using the light pressure of solar radiation for increasing the semimajor axis of the orbit of an Earth Satellite carrying a solar sail is estimated. The orbit is nearly circular and has an altitude of about 900 km. The satellite is in the mode of single-axis solar orientation: it rotates at an angular velocity of 1 deg/s around the axis of symmetry, which traces the direction to the Sun. This mode is maintained by the solar sail, which serves in this case as a solar stabilizer. The following method of increasing the semimajor axis of the orbit (which is equivalent to increasing the total energy of the satellite's orbital motion) is considered. On those sections of the orbit, where the angle between the light pressure force acting upon the sail and the vector of geocentric velocity of the satellite does not exceed a specified limit, the sail is functioning as a solar stabilizer. On those sections of the orbit, where the above-indicated angle exceeds this limit, the sail is furled by way of turning the edges of the petals towards the Sun. Such a control increases the semimajor axis by more than 150 km for three months of flight. In this case, the accuracy of solar orientation decreases insignificantly.     

条带式太阳帆航天器的热致结构动力学响应

本文研究条带式太阳帆在近地轨道运行进出地球阴影时的热致结构动力学响应，建立了在太阳热辐射和光压共同作用下的太阳帆结构动力学方程，采用分布传递函数法，给出了条带式太阳帆热致结构稳态振动幅频响应的计算方法。算例结果表明：热辐射冲击是引起近地轨道太阳帆结构动力学响应的主要原因，光压引起的结构响应可忽略不计；增加桅杆壁厚不能有效抑制太阳帆的热致结构动态响应；增大阻尼，减小结构的热膨胀系数能够明显减小太阳帆热致结构响应的振幅；热致结构动态响应是设计大尺寸近地轨道太阳帆必须解决的问题。本文提出的方法可为太阳帆结构设计、姿态和轨道控制提供有力的分析工具。     

太阳帆绕地球周期轨道研究

  地球同步和太阳同步卫星在各个领域有着广泛的应用。静止轨道是一种特殊的地球同步轨道,轨道资源有限。利用化学推进或电推进可以实现轨道高度不同的同步轨道,如悬挂轨道,但需要消耗较多的燃料,工程上无法承受。本文考虑利用太阳帆实现地球同步和太阳同步轨道。太阳光压力在轨道平面内沿拱线方向,选择光压力与平面的夹角使得轨道平面的旋转速率与太阳光同步。研究表明,设计合适的半长轴和偏心率可以使得轨道旋转速率与地球自转速率一致。假设太阳光与赤道平面平行,可以得到准静止轨道,太阳帆将在传统静止轨道的附近运动,星下点的经度将在一个固定值附近振动。实际上太阳光是与黄道面平行,黄道面与赤道面之间存在夹角。考虑黄赤交角的情况下,太阳帆将在一定纬度和经度范围内运动。适合于对某个区域进行长期观测任务。     

Fast solar sail rendezvous mission to near Earth asteroids

The concept of fast solar sail rendezvous missions to near Earth asteroids is presented by considering the hyperbolic launch excess velocity as a design parameter. After introducing an initial constraint on the hyperbolic excess velocity, a time optimal control framework is derived and solved by using an indirect method. The coplanar circular orbit rendezvous scenario is investigated first to evaluate the variational trend of the transfer time with respect to different hyperbolic excess velocities and solar sail characteristic accelerations. The influence of the asteroid orbital inclination and eccentricity on the transfer time is studied in a parametric way. The optimal direction and magnitude of the hyperbolic excess velocity are identified via numerical simulations. The found results for coplanar circular scenarios are compared in terms of fuel consumption to the corresponding bi-impulsive transfer of the same flight time, but without using a solar sail. The fuel consumption tradeoff between the required hyperbolic excess velocity and the achievable flight time is discussed. The required total launch mass for a particular solar sail is derived in analytical form. A practical mission application is proposed to rendezvous with the asteroid 99942 Apophis by using a solar sail in combination with the provided hyperbolic excess velocity.     

Controlling spacecraft by means of solar radiation

The possibility of using solar sails in Earth orbit is investigated. The characteristic parameters of a solar sail consisting of six spheres attached by mutually orthogonal long rods are estimated.     

Mission analysis and systems design of a near-term and far-term pole-sitter mission

This paper provides a detailed mission analysis and systems design of a near-term and far-term pole-sitter mission. The pole-sitter concept was previously introduced as a solution to the poor temporal resolution of polar observations from highly inclined, low Earth orbits and the poor high-latitude coverage from geostationary orbit. It considers a spacecraft that is continuously above either the north or south pole and, as such, can provide real-time, continuous and hemispherical coverage of the polar regions. Being on a non-Keplerian orbit, a continuous thrust is required to maintain the pole-sitter position. For this, two different propulsion strategies are proposed, which result in a near-term pole-sitter mission using solar electric propulsion (SEP) and a far-term pole-sitter mission where the SEP thruster is hybridized with a solar sail. For both propulsion strategies, minimum propellant pole-sitter orbits are designed. In order to maximize the spacecraft mass at the start of the operations phase of the mission, the transfer from Earth to the pole-sitter orbit is designed and optimized assuming either a Soyuz or an Ariane 5 launch. The maximized mass upon injection into the pole-sitter orbit is subsequently used in a detailed mass budget analysis that will allow for a trade-off between mission lifetime and payload mass capacity. Also, candidate payloads for a range of applications are investigated. Finally, transfers between north and south pole-sitter orbits are considered to overcome the limitations in observations due to the tilt of the Earth's rotational axis that causes the poles to be alternately situated in darkness. It will be shown that in some cases these transfers allow for propellant savings, enabling a further extension of the pole-sitter mission.     

太阳帆日心定点悬浮转移轨道设计

研究了太阳帆航天器日心定点悬浮轨道(HFDO)的转移轨道设计问题,以球坐标形式建立了太阳帆的动力学模型,基于该模型给出在日心悬浮轨道基础上实现定点悬浮的条件,提出了一种实现日心定点悬浮的转移轨道设计方法。首先,确定定点悬浮的位置;然后,设计经过该位置的绕日极轨轨道;最后,实施轨道减速实现定点悬浮,并给出了解析形式的轨道控制律。结合太阳极地观测任务,设计了定点悬浮在太阳北极1AU处的太阳帆转移轨道。仿真结果表明:该轨道转移方案总耗时3.5年,太阳帆定点到黄北极距日心1AU处,此后只要保持太阳光垂直照射帆面,即可维持稳定的悬浮状态。     

Can solar sails be used to test fundamental physics?

The relative importance of certain general relativistic effects is enhanced by solar radiation pressure (SRP). The observation and study of the trajectories of a solar sail could potentially provide tests of various effects of general relativity. In particular, we study Keplerian and non-Keplerian orbits near the sun as well as escape trajectories for a solar sail, for which general relativistic effects and the solar radiation pressure are considered simultaneously. In contrast with the conventional solar mission, a solar sail allows for non-Keplerian orbits, for which the orbital plane lies above the sun. It is predicted that there is an analog of the Lense–Thirring effect for non-Keplerian orbits. Also the SRP increases the amount of precession per orbit due to the Lense–Thirring effect for polar heliocentric orbits. A solar sail would also enhance the relative importance of effects associated with a possible net charge on the sun and during many rotations this effect may be measurable.     

The AURORA Project: Removal of plastic substrate to obtain an all-metal solar sail

The Orbital Angular Momentum Reversal (H-Reversal mode), is a new class of trajectories to get a cruise speed ranging from 12 to 20 AU/yr. To accomplish the H-reversal mode, a sailcraft needs of all metal solar sail. The solar sail envisaged by the “AURORA Project” is composed of two metallic layers (AI and Cr) deposited on plastic substrate. To obtain an all metal solar sail, required by the Project, the substrate must be removed in orbit. In order to accomplish that, two possible methods are described in this paper. The first one is based on the UV degradation of a buffer layer located between the substrate and the metallic layers. The UV degradation would be the starting mechanism that causes the interface weakness. The Diamond Like Carbon has been used as buffer layer and preliminary experimental results on its UV degradation are reported. The second method exploits the characteristic of most plastics to be etched (ashing process) by the atomic oxygen. The number density of atomic oxygen in Low Earth Orbit could be enough to remove a properly-selected plastic substrate in Short time.     

Elimination of relative secular drift of orbits of two satellites caused by polar oblateness of the Earth

A method of elimination of relative secular drifts in satellite formations is suggested for the case of influence of a perturbation due to polar oblateness of the Earth. The method is applied to eliminate relative secular drifts in the case when a satellite is controlled using an engine mounted along its orientation axis (the satellite is supplied with a passive magnetic attitude control system) and with the help of a solar sail installed on one of the satellites. Analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulation.     

太阳帆航天器研究及其关键技术综述

综述了国内外关于太阳帆航天器的研究成果。介绍了太阳帆航天器的构型与材料、姿态控制、轨道控制及任务分析、试验验证及动力学仿真分析等的研究进展,讨论了太阳帆航天器轻质高强度帆体、折叠储存与展开控制、结构设计、姿态控制、地面试验及在轨演示验证,以及测试与诊断等关键技术,分析了未来太阳帆航天器的发展趋势。     

Station keeping of a solar sail around a Halo orbit

Solar sails are a concept of spacecraft propulsion that takes advantage of solar radiation pressure to propel a spacecraft. Although the thrust provided by a solar sail is small it is constant and unlimited. This offers the chance to deal with novel mission concept. In this work we want to discuss the controllability of a spacecraft around a Halo orbit by means of a solar sail. We will describe the natural dynamics for a solar sail around a Halo orbit. By natural dynamics we mean the behaviour of the trajectory of a solar sail when no control on the sail orientation is applied. We will then discuss how a sequence of changes on the sail orientation will affects the sail's trajectory, and we will use this information to derive efficient station keeping strategies. Finally we will check the robustness of these strategies including different sources of errors in our simulations.     

航天器相对运动建模及周期性相对运动求解

面向航天器编队飞行的需求,对椭圆参考轨道航天器非线性周期相对运动条件进行研究,提出了确定椭圆参考轨道编队航天器非线性周期性相对运动条件的新方法。首先,考虑非线性、椭圆轨道等因素,通过哈密尔顿-雅可比(HJ)方程和正则摄动理论,推导了在任意非线性摄动下相对运动的模型和获得不需消耗任何燃料的周期性相对运动轨道的条件;然后,采用时域配点法,结合改进的列文伯格-马夸尔特(LM)法对周期性相对运动的初值进行求解;最后,设计数值仿真算例,利用上述条件,得到不消耗任何燃料的周期性绕飞轨道,由此验证了本文所提模型和方法的正确性。     

European Sail Tower SPS concept

Based on a DLR-study in 1998/99 on behalf of ESA/ESTEC called “System Concepts, Architectures and Technologies for Space Exploration and Utilization (SE&U)” a new design for an Earth-orbiting Solar Power Satellite (SPS) has been developed. The design is called “European Sail Tower SPS” and consists mainly of deployable sail-like structures derived from the ongoing DLR/ESA solar sail technology development activity. Such a SPS satellite features an extremely light-weight and large tower-like orbital system and could supply Europe with significant amounts of electrical power generated by photovoltaic cells and subsequently transmitted to Earth via microwaves. In order to build up the sail tower, 60 units - each consisting of a pair of square-shaped sails - are moved from LEO to GEO with electric propulsion and successively assembled in GEO robotically on a central strut. Each single sail has dimensions of 150m × 150 m and is automatically deployed, using four diagonal light-weight carbon fiber (CFRP) booms which are initially rolled up on a central hub. The electric thrusters for the transport to GEO could also be used for orbit and attitude control of the assembled tower which has a total length of about 15 km and would be mainly gravity gradient stabilized. Employing thin film solar cell technology, each sail is used as a solar array and produces an electric power in orbit of about 3.7 MW_e. A microwave antenna with a diameter of 1 km transmits the power to a 10 km rectenna on the ground. The total mass of this 450 MW SPS is about 2100 tons. First estimates indicate that the costs for one kWh delivered in this way could compete with present day energy costs, if launch costs would decrease by two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, mass production and large numbers of installed SPS systems must be assumed in order to lower significantly the production costs and to reduce the influence of the expensive technology development. The paper presents the technical concept and an economic assessment as well as results of a recent solar sail deployment ground demonstration at DLR's facilities in Cologne.     

利用太阳帆定点探测器在地一月系共线平动点附近的探讨

共线平动点附近的运动仅仅是条件稳定的,探测器的轨道需要经过控制才能维持在其附近.以地-月系11点和12点附近大振幅晕轨道的控制为例,探讨了太阳帆在定点这类探测器中的应用.首先,考虑了月球轨道的偏心率和太阳辐射的影响,给出了太阳帆对日定向的探测器轨道的低阶分析解,并在此基础上构造了在太阳系真实引力模型下一段时间内维持在共线平动点附近的拟周期轨道.然后,给出了两种利用太阳帆的控制方案,一是固定面质比而改变太阳帆法线的方向,另一是固定太阳帆对日定向而改变面质比,并对两种方案分别作了数值模拟.最后,文章探讨了测控误差及地、月影对轨道控制的影响.     

NanoSail-D: A solar sail demonstration mission

In the early to mid-2000s, NASA made substantial progress in the development of solar sail propulsion systems. Solar sail propulsion uses the solar radiation pressure exerted by the momentum transfer of reflected photons to generate a net force on a spacecraft. To date, solar sail propulsion systems were designed for large robotic spacecraft. Recently, however, NASA has been investigating the application of solar sails for small satellite propulsion. The NanoSail-D is a subscale solar sail system designed for possible small spacecraft applications. The NanoSail-D mission flew on board the ill-fated Falcon Rocket launched August 2, 2008, and due to the failure of that rocket, never achieved orbit. The NanoSail-D flight spare is ready for flight and a suitable launch arrangement is being actively pursued. This paper will present an introduction solar sail propulsion systems and an overview of the NanoSail-D spacecraft.     

Periodic motions of a satellite-gyrostat relative to its center of mass under the action of gravitational torque

We investigated periodic motions of the axis of symmetry of a model satellite of the Earth, which are similar to the motions of the longitudinal axes of the Mir orbital station in 1999–2001 and the Foton-M3 satellite in 2007. The motions of these spacecraft represented weakly disturbed regular Euler precession with the angular momentum vector of motion relative to the center of mass close to the orbital plane. The direction of this vector during the motion was not practically changed. The model satellite represents an axisymmetric gyrostat with gyrostatic moment directed along the axis of symmetry. The satellite moves in a circular orbit and undergoes the action of the gravitational torque. The motion of the axis of symmetry of this satellite relative to the absolute space is described by fourth-order differential equations with periodic coefficients. The periodic solutions to this system with special symmetry properties are constructed using analytical and numerical methods.     

太阳帆航天器移位轨道设计

研究了太阳帆日心移位轨道的稳定性、控制律设计及轨道拼接。将柱坐标形式的太阳帆动力学方程在参考移位轨道附近线性化,得到线性变分方程。分析线性变分方程的特征值在复数平面上的位置就可以得到移位轨道的稳定性条件。设计了太阳帆日心移位轨道的控制律,并证明了控制律满足稳定性条件。该控制律仅要求太阳帆在移位轨道飞行时姿态角α保持不变。此外,太阳帆移位轨道可以与开普勒轨道相互转化,也可以与移位轨道之间相互拼接。     

Electric sail,photonic sail and deorbiting applications of the freely guided photonic blade

We consider a freely guided photonic blade (FGPB) which is a centrifugally stretched sheet of photonic sail membrane that can be tilted by changing the centre of mass or by other means. The FGPB can be installed at the tip of each main tether of an electric solar wind sail (E-sail) so that one can actively manage the tethers to avoid their mutual collisions and to modify the spin rate of the sail if needed. This enables a more scalable and modular E-sail than the baseline approach where auxiliary tethers are used for collision avoidance. For purely photonic sail applications one can remove the tethers and increase the size of the blades to obtain a novel variant of the heliogyro that can have a significantly higher packing density than the traditional heliogyro. For satellite deorbiting in low Earth orbit (LEO) conditions, analogous designs exist where the E-sail effect is replaced by the negative polarity plasma brake effect and the photonic pressure by atmospheric drag. We conclude that the FGPB appears to be an enabling technique for diverse applications. We also outline a way of demonstrating it on ground and in LEO at low cost.     

Superlight rotating reflectors in space

There is a general possibility of creation in space of large controlled mirror reflectors for solar and electromagnetic radiation with specific mass order of 1 g m^?2 or less. Such reflectors may be used in space energetics for concentration of solar energy for its further conversion into microwave beam and transmission to the Earth. They can also be used to illuminate the Earth surface in a dark period with reflected sunlight, to control the weather, for research work and some other purposes. Such reflector is a good solar sail. The control of its orientation and position in space is performed using solar energy and light pressure without spending fuel delivered from the Earth. Its form is maintained by centrifugal forces and light pressure. The film strength permits concentrators with radii of several kilometres and nearly flat reflectors for lighting applications with radii of hundreds of metres. Large series of identical reflectors can be built in space using superthin film tape at assembly station. For a year more than a hundred reflectors with a diameter of 600 m can be assembled at such a station. The assembly station can be placed at the height of 1000 km. The reflectors transfer to synchronous or other orbit is performed using their sail-likeness. For realization of such reflectors one should solve a very difficult problem of superthin film mass production as well as assembly technology problems. Careful study and experimental checks of their lifetime should be also made.