@inproceedings{9d86083e69604d26a1c9aef6ab909611,
title = "Solar sail technology for nanosatellites",
abstract = "Solar sailing is an attractive means of spacecraft propulsion because it extracts momen-tum from electromagnetic radiation supplied by the Sun. This allows a solar sail spacecraft to accomplish new classes of missions that would otherwise require a prohibitive amount of propellant. Unfortunately, solar radiation pressure is meager, requiring a large area-to-mass ratio to produce significant accelerations. A solar sailing nanosatellite achieves this with a dramatically reduced mass allowing a smaller sail to generate significant accelerations. This sacrifice of slightly less capability for an immense gain in reduced cost and complexity is the motivation behind Stanfords solar sailing nanosatellite project, SailSat.",
author = "Souder, {Michael D.} and Matthew Westy",
year = "2008",
doi = "10.2514/6.2008-7078",
language = "English (US)",
isbn = "9781563479458",
series = "AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference and Exhibit",
publisher = "American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc.",
booktitle = "AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference and Exhibit",
}