The spinning solar sail of large scale has been well developed in recent years. Such a solar sail can be considered as a rigid-flexible multibody system mainly composed of a spinning central rigid hub, a number of fle...The spinning solar sail of large scale has been well developed in recent years. Such a solar sail can be considered as a rigid-flexible multibody system mainly composed of a spinning central rigid hub, a number of flexible thin tethers, sail membranes, and tip masses. A simplified interplanetary kite-craft accelerated by radiation of the Sun （IKAROS） model is established in this study by using the absolute-coordinate-based （ACB） method that combines the natural coordinate formulation （NCF） describing the central rigid hub and the absolute nodal coordinate formulation （ANCF） describing flexible parts. The initial configuration of the system in the second-stage deployment is determined through both dynamic and static analyses. The huge set of stiff equations of system dynamics is solved by using the generalized-alpha method, and thus the deployment dynamics of the system can be well understood.展开更多
The spinning deployment process of solar sails is analyzed in this study. A simplified model is established by considering the out-of-plane and in-plane motions of solar sails. The influences of structure parameters, ...The spinning deployment process of solar sails is analyzed in this study. A simplified model is established by considering the out-of-plane and in-plane motions of solar sails. The influences of structure parameters, initial conditions, and feedback control parameters are also analyzed.A method to build the geometric model of a solar sail is presented by analyzing the folding process of solar sails. The finite element model of solar sails is then established, which contains continuous cables and sail membranes. The dynamics of the second-stage deployment of solar sails are simulated by using ABAQUS software. The influences of the rotational speed and out-of-plane movement of the hub are analyzed by different tip masses, initial velocities, and control parameters.Compared with the results from theoretical models, simulation results show good agreements.展开更多
Solar sail technology has been proposed and developed for space explorations with advantages of low launch cost,no-propellant consumption,and continuous thrust,which has great potentials in earth polar detection,inter...Solar sail technology has been proposed and developed for space explorations with advantages of low launch cost,no-propellant consumption,and continuous thrust,which has great potentials in earth polar detection,interstellar explorations and etc.The development of solar sail has made significant progress in structural design,manufacturing,materials,orbit transfer,and stability control in the past few decades,which makes meaningful contributions to astronomy,physics,and aerospace science.Technological breakthroughs of Solar Radiation Pressure(SRP)propulsion and interstellar transfer have been achieved in current solar sail missions.However,there are still many challenges and problems need to be solved.This paper attempts to summarize the research schemes and potential applications of solar sailing in space missions from the viewpoint of key technologies,so as to provide an overall perspective for researchers in this field.Analyses of the key technologies of solar sailing system design are provided.Finally,challenges and prospective development of solar sailing are discussed.展开更多
The fuel consumption associated with some interplanetary transfer trajectories using chemical propulsion is not affordable. A solar sail is a method of propulsion that does not consume fuel. Transfer time is one of th...The fuel consumption associated with some interplanetary transfer trajectories using chemical propulsion is not affordable. A solar sail is a method of propulsion that does not consume fuel. Transfer time is one of the most pressing problems of solar sail transfer trajectory design. This paper investigates the time-optimal interplanetary transfer trajectories to a circular orbit of given inclination and radius. The optimal control law is derived from the principle of maximization. An indirect method is used to solve the optimal control problem by selecting values for the initial adjoint vari- ables, which are normalized within a unit sphere. The conditions for the existence of the time-optimal transfer are dependent on the lightness number of the sail and the inclination and radius of the target orbit. A numerical method is used to obtain the boundary values for the time-optimal transfer trajectories. For the cases where no time-optimal transfer trajectories exist, first-order necessary conditions of the optimal control are proposed to obtain feasible solutions. The results show that the transfer time decreases as the minimum distance from the Sun decreases during the transfer duration. For a solar sail with a small lightness number, the transfer time may be evaluated analytically for a three-phase transfer trajectory. The analytical results are compared with previous results and the associated numerical results. The transfer time of the numerical result here is smaller than the transfer time from previous results and is larger than the analytical result.展开更多
A diffractive sail is a solar sail whose exposed surface is covered by an advanced diffractive metamaterial film with engineered optical properties. This study examines the optimal performance of a diffractive solar s...A diffractive sail is a solar sail whose exposed surface is covered by an advanced diffractive metamaterial film with engineered optical properties. This study examines the optimal performance of a diffractive solar sail with a Sun-facing attitude in a typical orbit-to-orbit heliocentric transfer. A Sun-facing attitude, which can be passively maintained through the suitable design of the sail shape, is obtained when the sail nominal plane is perpendicular to the Sun–spacecraft line. Unlike an ideal reflective sail, a Sun-facing diffractive sail generates a large transverse thrust component that can be effectively exploited to change the orbital angular momentum. Using a recent thrust model, this study determines the optimal control law of a Sun-facing ideal diffractive sail and simulates the minimum transfer times for a set of interplanetary mission scenarios. It also quantifies the performance difference between Sun-facing diffractive sail and reflective sail. A case study presents the results of a potential mission to the asteroid 16 Psyche.展开更多
The solar sail is one of the most promising space exploration systems due to its theoretically infinite specific impulse achieved through solar radiation pressure(SRP).Recently,researchers have proposed“transformable...The solar sail is one of the most promising space exploration systems due to its theoretically infinite specific impulse achieved through solar radiation pressure(SRP).Recently,researchers have proposed“transformable spacecraft”capable of actively reconfiguring their body configurations using actuatable joints.Transformable spacecraft,if used similarly to solar sails,are expected to significantly enhance orbit and attitude control capabilities owing to their high redundancy in control degrees of freedom.However,controlling them becomes challenging due to their large number of inputs,leading previous researchers to impose strong constraints to limit their potential control capabilities.This study focuses on novel attitude control techniques for transformable spacecraft under SRP.We developed two methods,namely,joint angle optimization to obtain arbitrary SRP force and torque,and momentum damping control driven by joint angle actuation.Our proposed methods are formulated in a general manner and can be applied to any transformable spacecraft comprising front faces that can predominantly receive the SRP on each body.The validity of our proposed method is confirmed through numerical simulations.Our study contributes to making most of the high control redundancy of transformable spacecraft without the need for expendable propellants,thus significantly enhancing the orbit and attitude control capabilities.展开更多
This paper proposes new quasi-periodic orbits around Earth–Moon collinear libration points using solar sails.By including the time-varying sail orientation in the linearized equations of motion for the circular restr...This paper proposes new quasi-periodic orbits around Earth–Moon collinear libration points using solar sails.By including the time-varying sail orientation in the linearized equations of motion for the circular restricted three-body problem(CR3BP),four types of quasi-periodic orbits(two types around L1 and two types around L2)were formulated.Among them,one type of orbit around L2 realizes a considerably small geometry variation while ensuring visibility from the Earth if(and only if)the sail acceleration due to solar radiation pressure is approximately of a certain magnitude,which is much smaller than that assumed in several previous studies.This means that only small solar sails can remain in the vicinity of L2 for a long time without propellant consumption.The orbits designed in the linearized CR3BP can be translated into nonlinear CR3BP and high-fidelity ephemeris models without losing geometrical characteristics.In this study,new quasi-periodic orbits are formulated,and their characteristics are discussed.Furthermore,their extendibility to higher-fidelity dynamic models was verified using numerical examples.展开更多
Sail is the core part of autonomous sailboat and wing sail is a new type of sail. Wing sail generates not only propulsion but also lateral force and heeling moment. The latter two will affect the navigation status and...Sail is the core part of autonomous sailboat and wing sail is a new type of sail. Wing sail generates not only propulsion but also lateral force and heeling moment. The latter two will affect the navigation status and bring resistance. Double sail can effectively reduce the center of wind pressure and heeling moment. In order to study the effect of distance between two sails, airfoil and attack angle on the total lift coefficient of double sail propulsion system, pressure coefficient distribution and lift coefficient calculation model have been established based on vortex panel method. By using the basic finite solution, the fluid dynamic forces on the two-dimensional sails are computed.The results show that, the distance in the range of 0 to 1 time chord length, when using the same airfoil in the fore and aft sail, the total lift coefficient of the double sail increases with the increase of distance, finally reaches a stable value in the range of one to three times chord length. Lift coefficients of thicker airfoils are more sensitive to the change of distance. The thicker the airfoil, the longer distance is required of the total lift coefficient toward stable.When different airfoils are adopted in fore and aft sail, the total lift coefficient increases with the increase of the thickness of aft sail. The smaller the thickness difference is, the more sensitive to the distance change the lift coefficient is. The thinner the fore sail is, the lower the influence will be on the lift coefficient of aft sail.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11221202 and 51075032)Excellent Young Scholar Research Fund from Beijing Institute of Technology
文摘The spinning solar sail of large scale has been well developed in recent years. Such a solar sail can be considered as a rigid-flexible multibody system mainly composed of a spinning central rigid hub, a number of flexible thin tethers, sail membranes, and tip masses. A simplified interplanetary kite-craft accelerated by radiation of the Sun （IKAROS） model is established in this study by using the absolute-coordinate-based （ACB） method that combines the natural coordinate formulation （NCF） describing the central rigid hub and the absolute nodal coordinate formulation （ANCF） describing flexible parts. The initial configuration of the system in the second-stage deployment is determined through both dynamic and static analyses. The huge set of stiff equations of system dynamics is solved by using the generalized-alpha method, and thus the deployment dynamics of the system can be well understood.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos. 11290151 and 51075032)
文摘The spinning deployment process of solar sails is analyzed in this study. A simplified model is established by considering the out-of-plane and in-plane motions of solar sails. The influences of structure parameters, initial conditions, and feedback control parameters are also analyzed.A method to build the geometric model of a solar sail is presented by analyzing the folding process of solar sails. The finite element model of solar sails is then established, which contains continuous cables and sail membranes. The dynamics of the second-stage deployment of solar sails are simulated by using ABAQUS software. The influences of the rotational speed and out-of-plane movement of the hub are analyzed by different tip masses, initial velocities, and control parameters.Compared with the results from theoretical models, simulation results show good agreements.
基金co-supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51905527)China Scholarship Council(No.202104910450).
文摘Solar sail technology has been proposed and developed for space explorations with advantages of low launch cost,no-propellant consumption,and continuous thrust,which has great potentials in earth polar detection,interstellar explorations and etc.The development of solar sail has made significant progress in structural design,manufacturing,materials,orbit transfer,and stability control in the past few decades,which makes meaningful contributions to astronomy,physics,and aerospace science.Technological breakthroughs of Solar Radiation Pressure(SRP)propulsion and interstellar transfer have been achieved in current solar sail missions.However,there are still many challenges and problems need to be solved.This paper attempts to summarize the research schemes and potential applications of solar sailing in space missions from the viewpoint of key technologies,so as to provide an overall perspective for researchers in this field.Analyses of the key technologies of solar sailing system design are provided.Finally,challenges and prospective development of solar sailing are discussed.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos. 10902056 and 10832004)
文摘The fuel consumption associated with some interplanetary transfer trajectories using chemical propulsion is not affordable. A solar sail is a method of propulsion that does not consume fuel. Transfer time is one of the most pressing problems of solar sail transfer trajectory design. This paper investigates the time-optimal interplanetary transfer trajectories to a circular orbit of given inclination and radius. The optimal control law is derived from the principle of maximization. An indirect method is used to solve the optimal control problem by selecting values for the initial adjoint vari- ables, which are normalized within a unit sphere. The conditions for the existence of the time-optimal transfer are dependent on the lightness number of the sail and the inclination and radius of the target orbit. A numerical method is used to obtain the boundary values for the time-optimal transfer trajectories. For the cases where no time-optimal transfer trajectories exist, first-order necessary conditions of the optimal control are proposed to obtain feasible solutions. The results show that the transfer time decreases as the minimum distance from the Sun decreases during the transfer duration. For a solar sail with a small lightness number, the transfer time may be evaluated analytically for a three-phase transfer trajectory. The analytical results are compared with previous results and the associated numerical results. The transfer time of the numerical result here is smaller than the transfer time from previous results and is larger than the analytical result.
基金Open Access funding provided by Università di Pisa within the CRUI-CARE Agreement.
文摘A diffractive sail is a solar sail whose exposed surface is covered by an advanced diffractive metamaterial film with engineered optical properties. This study examines the optimal performance of a diffractive solar sail with a Sun-facing attitude in a typical orbit-to-orbit heliocentric transfer. A Sun-facing attitude, which can be passively maintained through the suitable design of the sail shape, is obtained when the sail nominal plane is perpendicular to the Sun–spacecraft line. Unlike an ideal reflective sail, a Sun-facing diffractive sail generates a large transverse thrust component that can be effectively exploited to change the orbital angular momentum. Using a recent thrust model, this study determines the optimal control law of a Sun-facing ideal diffractive sail and simulates the minimum transfer times for a set of interplanetary mission scenarios. It also quantifies the performance difference between Sun-facing diffractive sail and reflective sail. A case study presents the results of a potential mission to the asteroid 16 Psyche.
文摘The solar sail is one of the most promising space exploration systems due to its theoretically infinite specific impulse achieved through solar radiation pressure(SRP).Recently,researchers have proposed“transformable spacecraft”capable of actively reconfiguring their body configurations using actuatable joints.Transformable spacecraft,if used similarly to solar sails,are expected to significantly enhance orbit and attitude control capabilities owing to their high redundancy in control degrees of freedom.However,controlling them becomes challenging due to their large number of inputs,leading previous researchers to impose strong constraints to limit their potential control capabilities.This study focuses on novel attitude control techniques for transformable spacecraft under SRP.We developed two methods,namely,joint angle optimization to obtain arbitrary SRP force and torque,and momentum damping control driven by joint angle actuation.Our proposed methods are formulated in a general manner and can be applied to any transformable spacecraft comprising front faces that can predominantly receive the SRP on each body.The validity of our proposed method is confirmed through numerical simulations.Our study contributes to making most of the high control redundancy of transformable spacecraft without the need for expendable propellants,thus significantly enhancing the orbit and attitude control capabilities.
文摘This paper proposes new quasi-periodic orbits around Earth–Moon collinear libration points using solar sails.By including the time-varying sail orientation in the linearized equations of motion for the circular restricted three-body problem(CR3BP),four types of quasi-periodic orbits(two types around L1 and two types around L2)were formulated.Among them,one type of orbit around L2 realizes a considerably small geometry variation while ensuring visibility from the Earth if(and only if)the sail acceleration due to solar radiation pressure is approximately of a certain magnitude,which is much smaller than that assumed in several previous studies.This means that only small solar sails can remain in the vicinity of L2 for a long time without propellant consumption.The orbits designed in the linearized CR3BP can be translated into nonlinear CR3BP and high-fidelity ephemeris models without losing geometrical characteristics.In this study,new quasi-periodic orbits are formulated,and their characteristics are discussed.Furthermore,their extendibility to higher-fidelity dynamic models was verified using numerical examples.
基金financially supported by the JIANG Xinsong Innovation Fund(Grant No.Y8F7010701)
文摘Sail is the core part of autonomous sailboat and wing sail is a new type of sail. Wing sail generates not only propulsion but also lateral force and heeling moment. The latter two will affect the navigation status and bring resistance. Double sail can effectively reduce the center of wind pressure and heeling moment. In order to study the effect of distance between two sails, airfoil and attack angle on the total lift coefficient of double sail propulsion system, pressure coefficient distribution and lift coefficient calculation model have been established based on vortex panel method. By using the basic finite solution, the fluid dynamic forces on the two-dimensional sails are computed.The results show that, the distance in the range of 0 to 1 time chord length, when using the same airfoil in the fore and aft sail, the total lift coefficient of the double sail increases with the increase of distance, finally reaches a stable value in the range of one to three times chord length. Lift coefficients of thicker airfoils are more sensitive to the change of distance. The thicker the airfoil, the longer distance is required of the total lift coefficient toward stable.When different airfoils are adopted in fore and aft sail, the total lift coefficient increases with the increase of the thickness of aft sail. The smaller the thickness difference is, the more sensitive to the distance change the lift coefficient is. The thinner the fore sail is, the lower the influence will be on the lift coefficient of aft sail.
