Session
Session 7: Advanced Technologies 2
Abstract
Personnel from NASA’s MSFC have been investigating the feasibility of an advanced propulsion system known as the Electric Sail (E-Sail) for future scientific exploration missions. This team initially won a NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Phase I NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) award and then a two-year follow-on Phase II NIAC award in October 2015. This paper documents the findings from this three-year investigation.
An Electric sail, a propellant-less propulsion system, uses solar wind ions to rapidly travel either to deep space or the inner solar system. Scientific spacecraft could reach Pluto in ~5 years, or the boundary of the solar system in ten to twelve years compared to the thirty-five plus years the Voyager spacecraft took.
The team’s recent focuses have been:
1) Developing a Particle in Cell (PIC) numeric engineering model from MSFC’s experimental data on the interaction between simulated solar wind and a charged bare wire that can be applied to a variety of missions,
2) Determining what missions could benefit from this revolutionary propulsion system,
3) Conceptualizing spacecraft designs for various tasks: to reach the solar system’s edge, to orbit the sun as Heliophysics sentinels, or to examine a multitude of asteroids.
Presentation
Findings from NASA’s 2015-2017 Electric Sail Investigations
Personnel from NASA’s MSFC have been investigating the feasibility of an advanced propulsion system known as the Electric Sail (E-Sail) for future scientific exploration missions. This team initially won a NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Phase I NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) award and then a two-year follow-on Phase II NIAC award in October 2015. This paper documents the findings from this three-year investigation.
An Electric sail, a propellant-less propulsion system, uses solar wind ions to rapidly travel either to deep space or the inner solar system. Scientific spacecraft could reach Pluto in ~5 years, or the boundary of the solar system in ten to twelve years compared to the thirty-five plus years the Voyager spacecraft took.
The team’s recent focuses have been:
1) Developing a Particle in Cell (PIC) numeric engineering model from MSFC’s experimental data on the interaction between simulated solar wind and a charged bare wire that can be applied to a variety of missions,
2) Determining what missions could benefit from this revolutionary propulsion system,
3) Conceptualizing spacecraft designs for various tasks: to reach the solar system’s edge, to orbit the sun as Heliophysics sentinels, or to examine a multitude of asteroids.
