• Current Industrial and Technological Trends in Aerospace
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.24-30
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• 2010

Space solar sails are a form of spacecraft propulsion using the radiation pressure of light from a star or laser to push enormous ultra-thin mirrors to high speeds. With respect to it, U.S.A, Japan, E.U. and Russia, etc. have performed a substantial research and the space flight test. On May 2010, JAXA succeeded in launching the world's first interplanetary solar sail spacecraft "IKAROS" to Venus. Currently, solar sail propulsion is aimed chiefly at accomplishing a number of non-crewed missions in any part of the solar system and beyond. This paper presents the technology trend of advanced countries on the development of the solar sails as a new propulsion method for the space investigation and travel.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.421-427
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• 2012

Solar Sail propulsion has been validated in space (IKAROS, 2010) and soon several more solar-sail propelled spacecraft will be flown. Using sunlight for spacecraft propulsion is not a new idea. First proposed by Frederick Tsander and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the 1920's, NASA's Echo 1 balloon, launched in 1960, was the first spacecraft for which the effects of solar photon pressure were measured. Solar sails reflect sunlight to achieve thrust, thus eliminating the need for costly and often very-heavy fuel. Such "propellantless" propulsion will enable whole new classes of space science and exploration missions previously not considered possible due to the propulsive-intense maneuvers and operations required.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.278-281
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• 2004

To realize magnetic sails, momentum of the solar wind should be efficiently transferred to a spacecraft via magnetic field, which is produced around a spacecraft. In this paper, two important physical processes are addressed: 1) diffusive processes caused by plasma turbulence at the magnetospheric boundary around the spacecraft; and 2) field aligned current loops that will electrically connect the magnetospheric boundary and the spacecraft. The idea of the magnetic sails will be demonstrated by an experimental simulator, in which a fast plasma beam will penetrate into a dipole magnetic field. For that purpose, the two important physical processes should be scaled down to a small laboratory experiment in a space chamber. From the scaling considerations, the interaction can be scaled down if high-speed and high-density $(10^{19}m^{-3})$ plasma jet is used with 1-T-class magnetic field.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

Frozen orbit is an attractive option for orbital design owing to its characteristics (its argument of pericenter and eccentricity are kept constant on an average). Solar sails are attractive solutions for massive and expensive missions. However, the solar radiation pressure effect represents an additional force on the solar sail that may greatly affect its orbital behavior in the long run. Thus, this force must be included as a perturbation force in the dynamical model for more accuracy. This study shows the calculations of initial conditions for a lunar solar sail frozen orbit. The disturbing function of the problem was developed to include the lunar gravitational field that is characterized by uneven mass distribution, third body perturbation, and the effect of solar radiation. An averaging technique was used to reduce the dynamical problem to a long period system. Lagrange planetary equations were utilized to formulate the rate of change of the argument of pericenter and eccentricity. Using the reduced system, frozen orbits for the Moon sail orbiter were constructed. The resulting frozen orbits are shown by two 3Dsurface (semi-major, eccentricity, inclination) figures. To simplify the analysis, we showed inclination-eccentricity contours for different values of semi-major axis, argument of pericenter, and values of sail lightness number.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.495-504
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• 2014

Solar sail spacecrafts can gain propulsion using the momentum change through reflecting the photon packets of energy from the Sun. The sail slowly but continuously accelerates to accomplish a wide-range of potential missions. To develop the potential mission of the solar sail, the configuration, the film characteristics and the deployment devices should be carefully considered. In this paper, recent development and activities of the solar sail are introduced and design technology of the sail subsystem is investigated.