Session
Weekday Session 7: Propulsion
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
Solar sails have the potential to provide high ΔV for many types of missions. Solar sails are large, mirror-like structures made of a lightweight material that reflects sunlight to propel the spacecraft. The continuous solar photon pressure provides thrust with no need for the heavy, expendable propellants used by conventional chemical and electric propulsion systems. The 1653 m2 NASA Solar Cruiser solar sail propulsion system, made from 2.5 micron-thick thin film, recently advanced to NASA's Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 through extensive testing (January 2024). The sailcraft platform has pointing control and attitude stability comparable to traditional platforms, supporting both in situ and imaging instruments. A sailcraft using the propulsion system will be capable of multiple km/sec ΔV per year, providing primary propulsion, navigation, station keeping, and inclination changing capability immediately applicable to near-term missions, and show scalability of sail technologies such as the boom, membrane, deployer, reflectivity control devices for roll momentum management to enable more demanding missions, such as high inclination solar imaging. The ~$30M project, managed by the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), was funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate with the explicit goal of making the system available to scientists in upcoming flight mission proposals. Redwire integrated the solar sail system hardware, including the sail membrane from their subcontractor NeXolve, and the Triangular, Rollable and Collapsible (TRACTM) Boom, with NASA MSFC providing solar sail attitude, determination, and control system software and mission design. Redwire also built the active mass translator (AMT), which moves the sail relative to the bus to control momentum in the pitch/yaw directions. Potential enhancements to the system are also being developed, including the LISA (Lightweight Integrated Solar Arrays) which will be at TRL-7 after spaceflight demonstration in the summer of 2024 and Reflective Control Devices (RCDs), variable transmissivity thin films embedded into the sail and used for momentum management in support of system level attitude control systems.
Solar Sail Propulsion - Ready for SmallSat Mission Implementation
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Solar sails have the potential to provide high ΔV for many types of missions. Solar sails are large, mirror-like structures made of a lightweight material that reflects sunlight to propel the spacecraft. The continuous solar photon pressure provides thrust with no need for the heavy, expendable propellants used by conventional chemical and electric propulsion systems. The 1653 m2 NASA Solar Cruiser solar sail propulsion system, made from 2.5 micron-thick thin film, recently advanced to NASA's Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 through extensive testing (January 2024). The sailcraft platform has pointing control and attitude stability comparable to traditional platforms, supporting both in situ and imaging instruments. A sailcraft using the propulsion system will be capable of multiple km/sec ΔV per year, providing primary propulsion, navigation, station keeping, and inclination changing capability immediately applicable to near-term missions, and show scalability of sail technologies such as the boom, membrane, deployer, reflectivity control devices for roll momentum management to enable more demanding missions, such as high inclination solar imaging. The ~$30M project, managed by the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), was funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate with the explicit goal of making the system available to scientists in upcoming flight mission proposals. Redwire integrated the solar sail system hardware, including the sail membrane from their subcontractor NeXolve, and the Triangular, Rollable and Collapsible (TRACTM) Boom, with NASA MSFC providing solar sail attitude, determination, and control system software and mission design. Redwire also built the active mass translator (AMT), which moves the sail relative to the bus to control momentum in the pitch/yaw directions. Potential enhancements to the system are also being developed, including the LISA (Lightweight Integrated Solar Arrays) which will be at TRL-7 after spaceflight demonstration in the summer of 2024 and Reflective Control Devices (RCDs), variable transmissivity thin films embedded into the sail and used for momentum management in support of system level attitude control systems.
