Improving magnetosphere in situ observations using solar sails

Past and current magnetosphere missions employ conventional spacecraft formations for in situ observations of the geomagnetic tail. Conventional spacecraft flying in inertially fixed Keplerian orbits are only aligned with the geomagnetic tail once per year, since the geomagnetic tail is always aligned with the Earth-Sun line, and therefore, rotates annually. Solar sails are able to artificially create sun-synchronous orbits such that the orbit apse line remains aligned with the geomagnetic tail line throughout the entire year. This continuous presence in the geomagnetic tail can significantly increase the science phase for magnetosphere missions. In this paper, the problem of solar sail formation design is explored using nonlinear programming to design optimal two-craft, triangle, and tetrahedron solar sail formations, in terms of formation quality and formation stability. The designed formations are directly compared to the formations used in NASA’s Magnetospheric Multi-Scale mission.     

Accurate approximation of in-ecliptic trajectories for E-sail with constant pitch angle

Propellantless continuous-thrust propulsion systems, such as electric solar wind sails, may be successfully used for new space missions, especially those requiring high-energy orbit transfers. When the mass-to-thrust ratio is sufficiently large, the spacecraft trajectory is characterized by long flight times with a number of revolutions around the Sun. The corresponding mission analysis, especially when addressed within an optimal context, requires a significant amount of simulation effort. Analytical trajectories are therefore useful aids in a preliminary phase of mission design, even though exact solution are very difficult to obtain. The aim of this paper is to present an accurate, analytical, approximation of the spacecraft trajectory generated by an electric solar wind sail with a constant pitch angle, using the latest mathematical model of the thrust vector. Assuming a heliocentric circular parking orbit and a two-dimensional scenario, the simulation results show that the proposed equations are able to accurately describe the actual spacecraft trajectory for a long time interval when the propulsive acceleration magnitude is sufficiently small.     

Systems design of a hybrid sail pole-sitter

This paper presents the preliminary systems design of a pole-sitter. This is a spacecraft that hovers over an Earth pole, creating a platform for full hemispheric observation of the polar regions, as well as direct-link telecommunications. To provide the necessary thrust, a hybrid propulsion system combines a solar sail with a more mature solar electric propulsion (SEP) thruster. Previous work by the authors showed that the combination of the two allows lower propellant mass fractions, at the cost of increased system complexity. This paper compares the pure SEP spacecraft with the hybrid spacecraft in terms of the launch mass necessary to deliver a certain payload for a given mission duration. A mass budget is proposed, and the conditions investigated under which the hybrid sail saves on the initial spacecraft initial mass. It is found that the hybrid spacecraft with near- to mid-term sail technology has a lower initial mass than the SEP case if the mission duration is 7 years or more, with greater benefits for longer duration missions. The hybrid spacecraft with far-term sail technology outperforms the pure SEP case even for short missions.     

The interstellar heliopause probe technology reference study

The interstellar heliopause probe (IHP) is one of ESA’s technology reference studies (TRS). The TRS aim to focus the development of strategically important technologies of relevance to future science missions by studying technologically demanding and scientifically interesting missions that are currently not part of the science mission programme.

Equipped with a highly integrated payload suite (HIPS), the IHP will perform in situ exploration of the heliopause and the heliospheric interface. The HIPS, which is a standard element in all TRSs, miniaturize payloads through resource reduction by using miniaturized components and sensors, and by sharing common structures and payload functionality.

To achieve the scientific requirements of the mission, the spacecraft is to leave the heliosphere as close to the heliosphere nose as possible and reach a distance of 200 AU from the Sun within 25 years. This is possible by using a trajectory with two solar flybys and a solar sail with characteristic acceleration of 1.1 mm/s², which corresponds to a 245 × 245 m² solar sail and a sail thickness of 1–2 μm. The trajectory facilitates a modest sail design that could potentially be developed in a reasonable timeframe.

In this paper, an update to the results of studies being performed on this mission will be given and the current mission baseline and spacecraft design will be described. Furthermore, alternative solar sail systems and enabling technologies will be discussed.     

Solar sail science mission applications and advancement

Solar sailing has long been envisaged as an enabling or disruptive technology. The promise of open-ended missions allows consideration of radically new trajectories and the delivery of spacecraft to previously unreachable or unsustainable observation outposts. A mission catalogue is presented of an extensive range of potential solar sail applications, allowing identification of the key features of missions which are enabled, or significantly enhance, through solar sail propulsion. Through these considerations a solar sail application-pull technology development roadmap is established, using each mission as a technology stepping-stone to the next.     

深远空连续推进动力与施图林格解的解析

针对太阳系远深距离的探测将是人类下一阶段深空探测活动的主要目标。这一目标的实现依赖于探测器连续推进动力技术的突破。从描述连续常值推力下太空飞行的施图林格解出发,对其中反映的深远空飞行任务有效载荷比、任务时间、飞行距离等关键参数与发动机性能之间的关系进行了深入分析。给出了在特定任务时长、特定飞行距离要求下发动机比冲、功率需要满足的条件及其对有效载荷比、最终飞行速度等指标的影响。此外,基于二体轨道动力学对太阳系行星探测的大椭圆转移轨道和转移能量进行了推导,并对连续推力的太阳帆任务方案涉及的关键技术指标做了理论性的计算。这些结论是对深空探测连续推力方案基础理论的归纳,可以为我国未来开展深远空探测活动提供重要的启发和指导。     

太阳帆航天器编队维持和重构的方法研究

针对高面质比航天器可以利用太阳光压进行轨道控制的特点,本文提出一种太阳帆航天器编队构型维持和重构的方法.该方法通过控制主从航天器太阳帆姿态角和反射系数,调整主从航天器之间的光压差,产生抵消编队成员间相对运动受到摄动差或进行轨道机动时所需的连续小推力,从而实现编队构型的维持和重构.仿真结果表明,在主航天器太阳帆的姿态角和反射系数相对固定的条件下,对于太阳同步轨道上的高面质比太阳帆航天器编队,使用滑模控制方法,能够调整编队中从航天器太阳帆的姿态角和反射系数产生推力抵消摄动力影响,达到长期维持太阳帆航天器编队构型的目的;通过开环控制方法,能够调整编队中从航天器太阳帆的姿态角和反射系数产生连续小推力,在较长时间周期内实现编队重构.     

CubeSail: A low cost CubeSat based solar sail demonstration mission

CubeSail is a nano-solar sail mission based on the 3U CubeSat standard, which is currently being designed and built at the Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey. CubeSail will have a total mass of around 3 kg and will deploy a 5 × 5 m sail in low Earth orbit. The primary aim of the mission is to demonstrate the concept of solar sailing and end-of-life de-orbiting using the sail membrane as a drag-sail. The spacecraft will have a compact 3-axis stabilised attitude control system, which uses three magnetic torquers aligned with the spacecraft principle axis as well as a novel two-dimensional translation stage separating the spacecraft bus from the sail. CubeSail’s deployment mechanism consists of four novel booms and four-quadrant sail membranes. The proposed booms are made from tape-spring blades and will deploy the sail membrane from a 2U CubeSat standard structure. This paper presents a systems level overview of the CubeSat mission, focusing on the mission orbit and de-orbiting, in addition to the deployment, attitude control and the satellite bus.     

Paths not taken – The Gossamer roadmap’s other options

Highly efficient low-thrust propulsion is increasingly applied beyond commercial use, also in mainstream and flagship science missions, in combination with gravity assist propulsion. Another recent development is the growth of small spacecraft solutions, not in size but in numbers and individual capabilities.Just over ten years ago, the DLR-ESTEC Gossamer Roadmap to Solar Sailing was set up to guide technology developments towards a propellant-less and highly efficient class of spacecraft for solar system exploration and applications missions: small spacecraft solar sails designed for carefree handling and equipped with carried application modules.Soon, in three dedicated Gossamer Roadmap Science Working Groups it initiated studies of missions uniquely feasible with solar sails such as Displaced L₁ (DL1) space weather advance warning and monitoring, Solar Polar Orbiter (SPO) delivery to very high inclination heliocentric orbit, and multiple Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) rendezvous (MNR). Together, they demonstrate the capability of near-term solar sails to achieve at least in the inner solar system almost any kind of heliocentric orbit within 10 years, from the Earth-co-orbital to the extremely inclined, eccentric and even retrograde. Noted as part of the MNR study, sail-propelled head-on retrograde kinetic impactors (RKI) go to this extreme to achieve the highest possible specific kinetic energy for the deflection of hazardous asteroids.At DLR, the experience gained in the development of deployable membrane structures leading up to the successful ground deployment test of a (20 m)², i.e., 20 m by 20 m square solar sail at DLR Cologne in 1999 was revitalized and directed towards a 3-step small spacecraft development line from as-soon-as-possible sail deployment demonstration (Gossamer-1) via in-flight evaluation of sail attitude control actuators (Gossamer-2) to an envisaged proving-the-principle flight in the Earth-Moon system (Gossamer-3). First, it turned the concept of solar sail deployment on its head by introducing four separable Boom Sail Deployment Units (BSDU) to be discarded after deployment, enabling lightweight 3-axis stabilized sailcraft. By 2015, this effort culminated in the ground-qualified technology of the DLR Gossamer-1 deployment demonstrator Engineering Qualification Model (EQM). For mission types using separable payloads, such as SPO, MNR and RKI, design concepts can be derived from the BSDU characteristic of DLR Gossamer solar sail technology which share elements with the separation systems of asteroid nanolanders like MASCOT. These nano-spacecraft are an ideal match for solar sails in micro-spacecraft format whose launch configurations are compatible with ESPA and ASAP secondary payload platforms.Like any roadmap, this one contained much more than the planned route from departure to destination and the much shorter distance actually travelled. It is full of lanes, narrow and wide, detours and shortcuts, options and decision branches. Some became the path taken on which we previously reported. More were explored along the originally planned path or as new sidings in search of better options when circumstance changed and the project had to take another turn. But none were dead ends, they just faced the inevitable changes when roadmaps face realities and they were no longer part of the road ahead. To us, they were valuable lessons learned or options up our sleeves. But for future sailors they may be on their road ahead.     

太阳帆航天器的关键技术

将太阳帆航天器所涉及的关键技术划分为4个方面：总体设计、轨道和姿态动力学与控制、太阳帆材料及其性能、太阳帆折叠与展开。针对每项关键技术,基于对国外长期研究结果进行分析并阐述主要技术特征,梳理国内相关研究进展,包括笔者与合作者的研究成果,分析存在的主要问题。根据上述分析,指出我国发展太阳帆航天器应该重视的若干问题。     

太阳帆航天器行星际轨道转移优化算法

研究基于遗传算法的太阳帆行星际转移轨道的全局优化问题.通过极小值原理推导了太阳帆全局优化控制律,并以太阳帆飞行时间最短为优化目标函数,运用遗传算法对发射时间、到达时间和协态变量初值进行参数优化设计.为了解决轨道转移这一多约束优化问题,在遗传算法中加入动态罚函数.在此理论基础上作了从地球同步轨道出发到火星同步轨道转移和从地球出发与火星交会两个算例,仿真结果表明了该方法在太阳帆转移轨道全局优化中的有效性.     

Spinning solar sail orbit steering via spin rate control

The orbit of a solar sail can be controlled by changing the attitude of the spacecraft. In this study, we consider the spinning solar power sail IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun), which is managed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The IKAROS attitude, i.e., the direction of its spin-axis, is nominally controlled by the rhumb-line control method. By utilizing the solar radiation torque, however, we are able to change the direction of the spin-axis by only controlling its spin rate. With this spin rate control, we can also control indirectly the solar sail’s trajectory. The main objective of this study is to construct the orbit control strategy of the solar sail via the spin-rate control method. We evaluate this strategy in terms of its propellant consumption compared to the rhumb-line control method. Finally, we present the actual flight attitude data of IKAROS and the change of its trajectory.     

Influence of optical parameters on a solar sail motion

Detailed dynamic modeling of a solar sail requires recording of solar radiation pressure influence. A photon-solar sail is determined by the thrust value and the direction. We define the solar sail’s reflectivity depending on the film materials, the sail design and temperature, the thickness of multiple layers, and degradation factor, with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Thus, this work is devoted to the identification of optical characteristics of thin multilayer films in space flight conditions, i.e. to finding its reflectance, absorbance, and transmittance. In particular, the paper asks whether the solar sail simulates by a mathematical model of the optical characteristics of a multilayer epitaxial thin film. The temperature change effect and optical properties of solar sail degradation are considered as well. Solar sail flight from Earth to Mercury is designed as a simulation of the flight change in optical parameters.     

Optimal solar sail trajectory approximation with finite Fourier series

The heliocentric transfer of a solar sail-based spacecraft is usually studied from an optimal perspective, by looking for the control law that minimizes the total flight time. The optimal control problem can be solved either with an indirect approach, whose solution is difficult to obtain due to its sensitivity to an initial guess of the costates, or with a direct method, which requires a good estimate of a feasible (guess) trajectory. This work presents a procedure to generate an approximate optimal trajectory through a finite Fourier series. The minimum time problem is solved using a nonlinear programming solver, in which the optimization parameters are the coefficients of the Fourier series and the positions of the spacecraft along the initial and target orbits. Suitable constraints are enforced on the direction and magnitude of the sail propulsive acceleration vector in order to obtain feasible solutions. A comparison with the numerical results from an indirect approach shows that the proposed method provides a good approximation of the optimal trajectory with a small computational effort.     

基于线性协方差方法的交会对接误差分析

将线性协方差分析方法和蒙特卡罗仿真相结合,按交会任务和飞行特征把交会过程分为变轨飞行、自由飞行和中途速度修正三种特征段,研究了状态误差的传播规律和交会过程中各种误差对交会对接精度的影响。在变轨飞行段,分析了追踪航天器的姿态误差、控制系统性能状态估计误差,以及目标航天器轨道摄动对状态误差传播的影响。在自由飞行段,分析了追踪航天器估计状态误差的先验值和测轨误差对状态误差传播的影响。在中途速度修正段,分析了追踪航天器姿态误差和控制系统性能误差对状态误差传播的影响。仿真结果表明,误差分析方法设计合理,可以指导交会对接的轨道设计工作,能对已经设计好的交会策略进行误差分析和设计验证。     

Time-optimal trajectories to circumsolar space using solar electric propulsion

The aim of this paper is to explore the capabilities of a solar electric propelled spacecraft on a mission towards circumsolar space. Using an indirect approach, the paper investigates minimum time of transfer (direct) trajectories from an initial heliocentric parking orbit to a desired final heliocentric target orbit, with a low perihelion radius and a high orbital inclination. The simulation results are then collected into graphs and tables for a trade-off analysis of the main mission parameters. Finally, a comparison of the performance between a solar electric and a (photonic) solar sail based spacecraft is discussed.     

Spacecraft formation flying control around L2 sun-earth libration point using on–off SDRE approach

In this paper, on–off SDRE control approach is presented for spacecraft formation flying control around sun-earth L2 libration point. Orbits around libration points are significant targets for many space missions mainly because of efficient fuel consumption. Furthermore, less propellant usage can be achieved by considering optimal control approaches in spacecraft formation flying control design. Among various nonlinear and optimal control methods, SDRE has shown to be a popular controller in various missions due to the privileges including efficiency, accuracy and robustness. The spacecraft are assumed to have on–off thrusters as actuators. It requires them to be fed with a sequence of on–off pulses which is regarded as a challenge for spacecraft designers. Hence, the main contribution of this paper is designing an on–off SDRE approach for the formation flight around sun-earth L2 point with uncertainty with energy and accuracy considerations. Including on–off input as a constraint is not feasible for SDRE implementation because it makes the system non-affine. An alternative is utilizing an integral action technique and an auxiliary control to make the system affine which leads to on–off SDRE approach. It has also been shown that the proposed method is robust against parametric uncertainties of the states. Present study aims to design an energy-beneficial, simple and attractive controller for a complex nonlinear system with on–off inputs and uncertainty in CRTBP. Simulation results show that the on–off SDRE control could provide the formation flight around L2 point with high accuracy using less energy consumption.     

Durability characterization of mechanical interfaces in solar sail membrane structures

The construction of a solar sail from commercially available metallized film presents several challenges. The solar sail membrane is made by seaming together precut lengths of ultrathin metallized polymer film into the required geometry. This assembled sail membrane is then folded into a small stowage volume prior to launch. The sail membranes must have additional features for connecting to rigid structural elements (e.g., sail booms) and must be electrically grounded to the spacecraft bus to prevent charge build up. Space durability of the material and mechanical interfaces of the sail membrane assemblies will be critical for the success of any solar sail mission. In this study, interfaces of polymer/metal joints in a representative solar sail membrane assembly were tested to ensure that the adhesive interfaces and the fastening grommets could withstand the temperature range and expected loads required for mission success. Various adhesion methods, such as surface treatment, commercial adhesives, and fastening systems, were experimentally tested in order to determine the most suitable method of construction.     

The dynamics and control of the CubeSail mission: A solar sailing demonstration

The CubeSail mission is a low-cost demonstration of the UltraSail solar sailing concept (, ,  and ), using two near-identical CubeSat satellites to deploy a 260 m-long, 20 m² reflecting film. The two satellites are launched as a unit, detumbled, and separated, with the film unwinding symmetrically from motorized reels. The conformity to the CubeSat specification allows for reduction in launch costs as a secondary payload and utilization of the University of Illinois-developed spacecraft bus. The CubeSail demonstration is the first in a series of increasingly-complex missions aimed at validating several spacecraft subsystems, including attitude determination and control, the separation release unit, reel-based film deployment, as well as the dynamical behavior of the sail and on-orbit solar propulsion. The presented work describes dynamical behavior and control methods used during three main phases of the mission. The three phases include initial detumbling and stabilization using magnetic torque actuators, gravity-gradient-based deployment of the film, and steady-state film deformations in low Earth orbit in the presence of external forces of solar radiation pressure, aerodynamic drag, and gravity-gradient.     

日地L1点探测任务设计与结果分析

日地L1点是太阳观测任务的理想观测点，对于中国后续太阳观测任务具有重要意义，因此在嫦娥五号的拓展任务阶段设计并实施了中国首次日地L1点探测任务，通过在轨飞行验证了日地L1点转移轨道、环绕轨道设计的正确性，对日地L1点的测控链路环境、太阳辐照环境、三体动力学环境、空间辐射环境等飞行环境进行了探测和验证。轨道飞行和各项环境探测的结果与设计模型的预示结果之间比对一致性较好，通过在轨飞行数据验证了设计模型的正确性。各项试验获得了预期的技术成果，进一步丰富了嫦娥五号任务的成果产出，对中国后续深空探测任务和产品的设计具有重要借鉴意义。