Session
Technical Session II: Commercial Applications
Abstract
Encounter 2001, LLC, AeroAstro, Inc., and L'Garde, Inc. are funded and developing a revolutionary spacecraft for a 2003 launch. The mission of this launch is the delivery of a three-kilogram payload out of the solar system using a solar sail. While the benefits of using solar sails for long-duration missions have been discussed extensively, to date no solar sail missions have been executed. Using a base material oneseventy- sixth the thickness of a human hair, the Encounter solar sail will be 75 m by 75 m with a mass of 18 kg (including payload), resulting in an areal density (mass per unit area) at least 3 times lower than any other sail seriously proposed. Areal density is the most common metric used for measuring solar sail performance: the lower the areal density the more delta- V a sail can provide a payload. Thus, this highperformance sail design represents a major advance in space propulsion enabling missions to the outer solar system that are virtually impossible with existing technology. The spacecraft is well into the preliminary design phase, and it is anticipated that it will be launched as a secondary payload on the Ariane 5 vehicle in the last quarter of 2003. This spacecraft will consist of two parts: the Carrier, which transports the sail outside of Earth's gravity well, and the Sailcraft which transports its 3 kg payload beyond the solar gravity well. The carrier is based on the AeroAstro BitsyTM kernel. The stowed sail will deploy using inflatable boom technology currently being developed by L'Garde. The sail payload will consist of messages, drawings, photographs, and DNA signatures of 3 to 5 million human participants.
Encounter 2001: Sailing to the Stars
Encounter 2001, LLC, AeroAstro, Inc., and L'Garde, Inc. are funded and developing a revolutionary spacecraft for a 2003 launch. The mission of this launch is the delivery of a three-kilogram payload out of the solar system using a solar sail. While the benefits of using solar sails for long-duration missions have been discussed extensively, to date no solar sail missions have been executed. Using a base material oneseventy- sixth the thickness of a human hair, the Encounter solar sail will be 75 m by 75 m with a mass of 18 kg (including payload), resulting in an areal density (mass per unit area) at least 3 times lower than any other sail seriously proposed. Areal density is the most common metric used for measuring solar sail performance: the lower the areal density the more delta- V a sail can provide a payload. Thus, this highperformance sail design represents a major advance in space propulsion enabling missions to the outer solar system that are virtually impossible with existing technology. The spacecraft is well into the preliminary design phase, and it is anticipated that it will be launched as a secondary payload on the Ariane 5 vehicle in the last quarter of 2003. This spacecraft will consist of two parts: the Carrier, which transports the sail outside of Earth's gravity well, and the Sailcraft which transports its 3 kg payload beyond the solar gravity well. The carrier is based on the AeroAstro BitsyTM kernel. The stowed sail will deploy using inflatable boom technology currently being developed by L'Garde. The sail payload will consist of messages, drawings, photographs, and DNA signatures of 3 to 5 million human participants.
