Experiment of Deployment and Attitude Control for Spinning Solar Power Sail Using Balloon

Paper number

IAC-07-C1.2.05

Author

Mr. Fuminori Hanaoka, University of Tokyo, Japan

Coauthor

Mr. Masataka Arakawa, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/ISAS, Japan

Coauthor

Mr. Shunsuke Okada, University of Tokyo, Japan

Coauthor

Mr. Yusuke Shibasaki, University of Tokyo, Japan

Coauthor

Mr. Yoji Shirasawa, University of Tokyo, Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Osamu Mori, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Coauthor

Mr. Maki Shida, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Yuichi Tsuda, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Junichiro Kawaguchi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/ISAS, Japan

Year

2007

Abstract

The deployment behavior of solar power sail is discussed. At the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), a spinning solar power sail is proposed for future interplanetary mission. It is a spinning solar sail with solar cells on its membrane for using electric propulsion such as ion engine concomitantly. A spinning solar sail has advantages in terms of weight, but there is a difficulty in supporting and stabilizing a large membrane. In addition, combining different materials such as a solar cell and a membrane makes the behavior analysis of a membrane more complex.

 First we conduct a deployment experiment at an altitude of 40km using balloon in September 2007. The experimental instruments are hung by balloon to decrease the air drag which is 1/200 compared with that of sea level, and a membrane is deployed statically by the centrifugal force of rotation of overall experimental instruments using thrusters. The purpose of this experiment is to validate the static deployment system, to handle a 40m to 50m membrane the size of which is the same as the proposed solar sail spacecraft and is the largest in the world, twice as big as the previous record we established in September 2006, and to verify the behavior of a membrane with solar cells in inner layer and the performance of collecting sunlight. To assure the behavior of basic system before the balloon experiment, we also conduct several experiments on ice rink to deploy a membrane of 13m in diameter which is equivalent to the balloon experiment in terms of air drag in March to June 2007. The results and the analysis of these experiments are reported in this paper.

Finally several instruments for the attitude control of a large membrane are introduced. The oscillation of a membrane is hard to diminish because of the spinning of solar sail, so we consider using dumpers at the root of tethers supporting a large membrane. The effect of the dampers is also confirmed by numerical simulation using multi particle model and analytic law based on dynamics model. For the problem of difficulty in directional control due to the effect of spinning, we develop a membrane enclosing liquid crystal to change reflection ratio of sunlight and create out-of-plane torque.

Abstract document

IAC-07-C1.2.05.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-07-C1.2.05.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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