A System Concept Design Study of Tether-Controlled Spinning Solar Sail
- Paper number
IAC-06-C1.P.3.02
- Author
Mr. Shinji Masumoto, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Mr. Kuniyuki Omagari, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Mr. Tomio Yamanaka, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Prof. Saburo Matunaga, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
- Year
2006
- Abstract
This paper discusses a system configuration of tethered spinning solar sail for orbital experiment. The solar sail system proposed by the authors consists of an equilateral triangular membrane and three satellites which are located on vertex of the membrane. Each three satellites are connected by tethers which control relative distance between satellites. In the solar sail system, method to deploy the membrane is not by extending beam, but by spinning (centrifugal force). To gain an effective acceleration of the sail system on orbit, the membrane direction should be changed periodically. The authors proposed a method of changing the membrane attitude using the offset torque between the centre of pressure (C.P.) on the membrane and the centre of mass (C.M.) of the system. The offset is caused by one or some satellites which keep distance from the membrane by extending the tether length. In the paper, a system concept design is conducted using a concrete scenario that the solar sail system is initially in a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). If the normal vector direction of the membrane can be controlled by the offset torque with C.P. and C.M. during all navigating time, one side size of triangular membrane is 70m with 10kg each three satellites, and the solar sail can arrive at a moon transfer orbit from GTO within one year. A numerical simulation study on the membrane attitude change is also conducted. The paper provides the detailed explanation of the concept design results and the attitude change control simulation results.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-C1.P.3.02.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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