Questions tagged [solar-sail]
Questions regarding a 'sail' that can be attached to spacecraft to harness the sun's radiation to propel a ship in one direction or another.
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NASA’s NIAC has awarded phase III funding for Diffractive Solar Sails. Demonstration mission in the works?
Diffractive lightsails use small gratings embedded in thin films to produce diffraction (which causes light to spread out when it passes through a narrow opening).
Diffractive light sails are a ...
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Slowing down 16 Psyche using an enormous solar sail to reach the inner planets
I am writing a sci-fi story and would like my science as hard as possible.
I was thinking of using the solar sail as a kind of sea anchor. Slowing down, the asteroid would move down to the inner ...
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Solar Turbines on the moon
Related to other questions about power generation on the moon.
URL's will be added shortly...
Given that force is experienced by objects hit by sunlight, such as a solar sail, would a turbine of some ...
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What is the optimal planetary sunshade arrangement?
To cool a planet down, one may place a sunshade between the planet and the Sun.
On its own, this is not stable due to radiation pressure, so a simple scheme like a big circular piece of aluminium foil ...
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What size of a solar sail would you need to overcome orbital decay? [duplicate]
Specifics of the question:
Placed into a 400km 0 inclination orbit
10 kg 20cm cube
Able to orient itself in any direction
Let’s say we want this satellite to be able to indefinitely orbit earth. ...
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Solar Sail mission
Sorry for my English. I'm not native speaker
I would like your advice in solar sail mission simulation. The purpose is to compare results with results in Wolfram Mathematica.
We have CubeSat with ...
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Solar sail for a 3U cubesat: do we have to buy one or can we design one?
We are working on a conceptual design for a 3U CubeSat with solar sail propulsion; we aren’t actually building one or buying one.
However we still need to make decisions like whether to build our own ...
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Why do "Relativistic Light Sails Need to Billow"?
The University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science blogpost How to Design a Sail that Won’t Tear or Melt on an Interstellar Voyage
links to two new Nano Letters papers:
Matthew ...
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Is there any more information available on JWST's "aft momentum flap"
I gather that the James Web Space Telescope (JWST) has just deployed its "aft momentum flap". However I cannot find much other information. It is described as the "aft" momentum ...
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To what extent could JWST continue to be useful after the propellant runs out?
I see a similar question answered, but this is perhaps more specific. There's a lot of description about the James Web Space Telescope (JWST) operation during its planned mission. But I gather JWST ...
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How will NEA Scout control its attitude during deep space flight & keep its camera steady without vibrations or damage to its 85 m² solar sail?
Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy's Fly Me to the Moon and Then to a Near-Earth Asteroid describes Near Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout, or just Scout) a 6U cubesat that will be deployed from Artemis ...
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How many existing satellites have a continuously varying orbit because of human design decisions?
In the space community, there is an assumption that changes to an Earth satellite's orbit are infrequent (other than those due to atmospheric drag). Are there any known satellites designed to ...
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What are the main challenges to boosting or driving smaller solar sails with a constellation of separate reflectors?
This is to continue expanding the idea of using smaller solar sails, but increasing the energy they receive from the Sun by having a constellation1 of satellites with mirrors + lenses.
For context, I ...
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Is it possible to have smaller solar sails and increase the amount of energy they receive with a constellation of mirrors?
Since a solar sail needs to have a huge area to capture enough energy from the Sun, but also be thin to make it easier to move, its design and materials are a big engineering challenge.
Is it possible ...
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How realistic is the 1 kg/km² solar sail in "Death's End"?
(This question has been migrated from the SciFi StackExchange.)
From Cixin Liu's 2010 sci-fi novel Death's End (pages 68–69):
"A radiation sail can be made very thin and light. Based on the ...
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Are solar sail spirals logarithmic? Can this be shown analytically or by dimensional analysis alone?
There are several questions and answers here about spiraling towards or away from the Sun using solar sails tilted by roughly 45 degrees to convert the sunlight's incoming radial momentum into ...
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Why did my vis-viva math solution get so close despite being wrong? Under what conditions would it have been a good approximation?
I tried to answer Equation for Velocity and distance from Sun of a solar sail powered spacecraft but I'm missing something.
I set up a math solution and got about 0.4 year to reach zero velocity based ...
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Equation for Velocity and distance from Sun of a solar sail powered spacecraft
I have an interest in solar sails as a method of propulsion. I have thought of the following interesting question about the workings of solar sails, which I just don’t have the mathematical ability to ...
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Attitude and orbit detection systems for solar sails
When a solar sailing craft is successfully getting force from solar photon pressure, that force applies a small torque to the craft because the center of pressure is never perfectly aligned with the ...
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Why isn't "cylindrical alien derelict spacecraft" more common in theories of Oumuamua as an alien probe?
When the mysterious extrasolar object, named Oumuamua, was detected and characterized, the leading analysis of its signal strongly suggested that it was a long, cylindrical or cigar-shaped object. And ...
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Where will the DSCOVR mission Falcon 9 2nd stage rocket body end up?
This answer to Why would a mission to Sun-Earth L1 have an instantaneous launch window? suggests that this was quite a delta-v-intensive launch. It left the F9 2nd stage in a very high 17 day orbit ...
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Do a significant proportion of cubesats (or any at all) have articulated solar panels/sails which can be pointed at the Sun?
It appears that for early cubesats the solar panels were simply fixed flat to the sides of the spacecraft, and even deployable panels were not part of early cubesat designs.
Have a significant number ...
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Would the Yarkovsky effect ever be faster than a solar sail from a 1 AU orbit to the Sun?
Previously I'd mistakenly asked Would the Poynting–Robertson effect ever be faster than a solar sail from a 1 AU orbit to the Sun? when I'd meant to ask about the Yarkovsky effect which can be much ...
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Why would photon pressure be needed to keep ParkinsonSAT Spinning?
This answer to Can a satellite work like a radiometer? says (in part):
...the US Naval Academy cubesat ParkinsonSAT was designed with four faces asymmetrical, with solar panels offset to one side ...
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Why put chromium on the back side of this JPL-designed solar sail?
This 2013 JPL presentation Solar System Escape Architecture for Revolutionary Science March 2013 Conference NIAC Phase 1: 2012-2013 by PI: Jeff Nosanov Co-Is: Dr. Daniel Grebow, Dr. Brian Trease, John ...
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Would the Poynting–Robertson effect ever be faster than a solar sail from a 1 AU orbit to the Sun?
In this answer to Do you need 0 km/s velocity to crash into the sun? I mention solar sails for retrograde thrust and the Poynting–Robertson as two ways an object could ever-so-slowly spiral into the ...
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Using a solar sail to concentrate sunlight at large distances
Space probes which travel to the outer planets usually use RTGs to provide power as photovoltaic cells are impractical at those distances from the Sun. Solar sail could be used to first propel the ...
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Influence of solar wind and radiation pressure on a sail
Solar wind is composed of a mixture of materials travelling between 250 and 750 km per second.
Radiation pressure involves electromagnetic field travelling at light speed.
If considering a sail in ...
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Can dust be in orbit around a spacecraft which orbits the Earth or Moon?
In the title above, Can dust be in orbit around a spacecraft which orbits the Earth or Moon? let's define "in orbit" to mean gravitationally bound to the spacecraft long enough to go around it a few ...
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calculating the terminal velocity of a theoretical solar sail when reaching a distance d where acceleration is insignificant
I am trying to calculate the terminal velocity of a solar sail starting at distance 1AU. I know that my sail will accelerate and its acceleration will be inversely proportional to the distance squared....
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Statites - Are they possible in anything but theory?
In this question someone mentioned the idea of a Statite, a satellite which is stationary above a planet without being in orbit, usually in an orientation which is not possible with an orbit. It seems ...
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Could a framework of mirrors static in space above the Lunar south pole illuminate a moonbase there continuously?
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For clarification of what I mean with "static in space above the Lunar south pole " please see this answer from @Tom Spilker or his answer to the question Orbits that allows ...
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Could a solar sail composed of smart glass stay near the L1 point of Venus?
From answers to this question i've learned that the Lagrangian L$_1$ point of Venus is not stable, despite the almost circular orbit of the planet and the fact that it has no moon.
Nevertheless would ...
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Total delta-v expected from Lightsail-2's solar sail before end of mission, and why end it so soon?
While Bill Nye has recently gotten quite upset at us for some things (strong language for Bill Nye warning), in the video below he expresses heartfelt thanks to all members of the Planetary Society ...
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Does Lightsail-2 take significant advantage of the Oberth effect?
The cubesat Lightsail-2 has been deployed and has communicated with ground stations. See The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 Healthy as Mission Team Continues Spacecraft Checkouts
In the near future,...
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Tacking a solar sail to increase duration of acceleration
Because the utility of a solar sail diminishes the further it travels away from the sun (max. distance ~50 AU), the longer it can stay in closer proximity to the sun the longer it can accelerate.
Is ...
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Can impact lift produce greater than 1 lift to drag ratio?
At orbital velocity in low circular Earth's orbit, at an altitude where mean free path exceeds cross sectional area of a craft or wing. therefore aerodynamic lift becomes impossible (Consider ...
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How will JWST manage solar pressure effects to maintain attitude and station keep it's unstable orbit?
The James Webb Space Telescope presents a huge reflective cross-section to the Sun's photons, and this can generate both torque and thrust.
How will JWST manage solar pressure effects to maintain ...
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How does lightsail 2 plan to raise its apogee
Lightsail 2 is supposed to be a demonstration flight for solar sail technology. They plan to demonstrate that they can raise the apogee of their satellite using only light pressure on their sail.
But ...
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Could protons in the Sun's solar wind be used to create a photonic laser thruster for a spacecraft?
I have a conceptual idea for a photonic laser thruster for a spacecraft and I am wondering if this particular idea has already been thought of and whether or not it is capable of generating enough ...
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Effective range of a laser propelled solar sail
The ongoing Breakthrough Starshot program proposes the use of high powered lasers on Earth to be aimed at a solar sail with the intention of propelling it to the star Alpha Centauri.
To be more ...
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Can a solar mirror increase an ion engine 's output?
Could an ideal size solar sail work as a parabolic mirror to increase the out put of an ion engine? Would the extra weight encumber the ion engine nullifying the increases sunlight on the ion engine? ...
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Can light sails be stopped (after 20 years)? What will happen after the 20 years (after their journey)?
At that time will they be destroyed? Or can they come back? Or will we simply cut the laser power? And if we can make the size of the craft big enough so that a person can be on-board (without ...
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Could the International Space Station be fitted with solar sails?
How much solar sail and vane surface area would be needed to replace the boosts needed to keep the ISS in orbit? Could this be done at a higher orbit minimizing atmospheric drag?
What is the closest ...
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What is the optimal angle for a solar-sail deorbit towards the Sun when radial thrust is included?
In this answer there's a geometrical derivation of the optimal angle of a solar sail to deorbit a spacecraft into the Sun.
The naive answer is 45° which would direct the reflected light directly ...
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Is there a solar sail design that can deploy and retract at will?
I know a mission to Venus was conducted using a solar sail -- however, once unfurled using rotation kinetic energy, it could not be retracted. Would retracting a solar sail cause uncontrollable ...
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What is the functional form for r(t) for a solar-sail deorbit into the Sun?
This answer describes a spacecraft in a heliocentric orbit using a solar sail to "deorbit" into the Sun by reflecting sunlight into roughly the prograde direction. In comments it was proposed that ...
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Is it possible to reach the Sun without expending any fuel/reaction mass?
Imagine that I'm designing a space probe, that will initially be placed into an Earth-like orbit around the Sun.
My goal is to have the probe fly/fall into the Sun; it's allowed to take as much time ...
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What is the timespan for a block of Phobos to reach a low orbit around Mars with a solar sail?
Edit: Although this question has been marked as a duplicate of this one about solar sail thrust calculation, they are different because I ask about a solar sail that has an orbital trajectory and ...
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Would a flat superconductor create surface area to increase its diamagnetic field uni or bilaterally to propel in space? [closed]
Instead of using a standard solar sail material could the sail be built of diamagnetic material and sail faster? Is there a way to make a thin flat sail that both uses the dimagnetic properties of a ...
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