TY - GEN
T1 - Potential effects of optical solar sail degradation on trajectory design
AU - Dachwald, Bernd
AU - Baturkin, Volodymyr
AU - Coverstone, Victoria L.
AU - Diedrich, Benjamin
AU - Garbe, Gregory P.
AU - Görlich, Marianne
AU - Leipold, Manfred
AU - Luratt, Franz
AU - Macdonald, Malcolm
AU - McInnes, Colin R.
AU - Mengali, Giovanni
AU - Quarta, Alessandro A.
AU - Rios-Reyes, Leonel
AU - Scheeres, Daniel J.
AU - Seboldt, Wolfgang
AU - Wie, Bong
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - The optical properties of the thin metalized polymer films that are projected for solar sails are assumed to be affected by the erosive effects of the space environment. Their degradation behavior in the real space environment, however, is to a considerable degree indefinite, because initial ground test results are controversial and relevant inspace tests have not been made so far. The standard optical solar sail models that are currently used for trajectory design do not take optical degradation into account, hence its potential effects on trajectory design have not been investigated so far. Nevertheless, optical degradation is important for high-fidelity solar sail mission design, because it decreases both the magnitude of the solar radiation pressure force acting on the sail and also the sail control authority. Therefore, we propose a simple parametric optical solar sail degradation model that describes the variation of the sail film's optical coefficients with time, depending on the sail film's environmental history, i.e., the radiation dose. The primary intention of our model is not to describe the exact behavior of specific film-coating combinations in the real space environment, but to provide a more general parametric framework for describing the general optical degradation behavior of solar sails. Using our model, the effects of different optical degradation behaviors on trajectory design are investigated for various exemplary missions.
AB - The optical properties of the thin metalized polymer films that are projected for solar sails are assumed to be affected by the erosive effects of the space environment. Their degradation behavior in the real space environment, however, is to a considerable degree indefinite, because initial ground test results are controversial and relevant inspace tests have not been made so far. The standard optical solar sail models that are currently used for trajectory design do not take optical degradation into account, hence its potential effects on trajectory design have not been investigated so far. Nevertheless, optical degradation is important for high-fidelity solar sail mission design, because it decreases both the magnitude of the solar radiation pressure force acting on the sail and also the sail control authority. Therefore, we propose a simple parametric optical solar sail degradation model that describes the variation of the sail film's optical coefficients with time, depending on the sail film's environmental history, i.e., the radiation dose. The primary intention of our model is not to describe the exact behavior of specific film-coating combinations in the real space environment, but to provide a more general parametric framework for describing the general optical degradation behavior of solar sails. Using our model, the effects of different optical degradation behaviors on trajectory design are investigated for various exemplary missions.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:33749352634
SN - 087703527X
SN - 9780877035275
T3 - Advances in the Astronautical Sciences
SP - 2569
EP - 2591
BT - Astrodynamics 2005 - Advances in the Astronautical Sciences - Proceedings of the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Conference
T2 - Astrodynamics 2005 - Advances in the Astronautical Sciences - Proceedings of the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Conference
Y2 - 7 August 2005 through 11 August 2005
ER -