Attitude dynamics and control of a Simple Solar Photon Thruster
- Paper number
IAC-08.C1.7.5
- Author
Dr. Anna Guerman, University of Beira Interior, Portugal
- Coauthor
Prof. Georgi Smirnov, University of Porto, Portugal
- Coauthor
Ms. Maria Cecilia Pereira, National Institute for Space Research - INPE , Brazil
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The use of solar pressure to create propulsion can minimize on-board energy consumption during a mission. Many projects of solar sails are now under development, making solar sail dynamics the subject of numerous studies. So far, the most extensively studied problem is the orbital maneuver of a Flat Solar Sail. In this case, the control is performed by turning the entire sail surface with respect to the Sun direction. This changes the radiation pressure and results in evolution of the vehicle trajectory. Attitude dynamics and control of a flat solar sail was examined in [1]. The use of Solar Photon Thruster (SPT) was proposed long ago [2], but the study of this spacecraft began quite recently (see e.g. [3] and [4]). The SPT consists of a parabolic surface which concentrates the solar radiation pressure on a system of smaller mirrors. The control effort in such system is produced by displacement of a small mirror with respect to the parabolic surface. The sail axis is supposed to be oriented along the Sun direction. In the present article, we examine attitude motion and stabilization of a compound sailcraft that consists of a parabolic collector and a small director mirror. We use the equations of trajectory and attitude motion for a non-ideal Simple SPT deduced in [4]. We study its orbital behavior and the corresponding attitude dynamics. We examine stability of this sailcraft for some specific trajectories. It is shown that stability of nominal motion depends on the reflecting properties of the sail surfaces. When the sailcraft possesses an ideally reflecting collector, motion with its symmetry axis aligned with the Sun-sailcraft direction is unstable; when the collector is not ideal, this motion can be stable. We study several possibilities to stabilize sailcraft motion, such as collector rotation and cm-cp offset control. [1] B.Wie. Solar sail attitude control and dynamics. Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, 27(4), 2004, 526-544. [2] Forward, R. L., Solar photon thruster, J. Spacecraft, Vol. 27, No. 4, 1990, pp. 411- 416. [3] McInnes, C. R., Payload mass fractions for minimum-time trajectories of flat and compound solar sails, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, Vol. 23, No. 6, 2000, pp. 1076-1078. [4] Guerman A. D., Smirnov, G. V., Attitude dynamics of a compound solar sail. Proc. of the 57th International Astrodynamics Conference, Valencia, Spain, 2006, Paper IAC-06-C1.1.8.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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