Abstract
As these words are composed in 2014, we are in the initial phase of solar-photon-sail operational application. Probably, a good historical analog is the status of the chemical rocket in late 1957. As was then the case with Sputnik 1 and 2 in their relation to the chemical rocket, the utility of small solar sails has been demonstrated by the successful operation of NASA NanoSail-D2 in low Earth orbit, and JAXA IKAROS in interplanetary space.
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Notes
- 1.
In a long and detailed paper presented at the 1st World Space Congress, Washington D.C. (1992), author Vulpetti first introduced and analyzed a space-vehicle driven by nuclear ion propulsion and solar-photon sail (see Further Reading). He proposed the designation of staged-propulsion spacecraft in order to highlight the opportunity for utilizing different-kind propulsive systems in different ranges of Sun-vehicle distance in a same complex mission.
- 2.
or 25 g/m2; we shall use such units in the subsequent chapters for a more direct visualization.
- 3.
This is the classical definition of the lightness number. In Part-V, we will introduce the reader to a new mathematical formalism for the Astrodynamics of solar-photon sailing, which is more versatile for a better comprehension of the potentialities of the solar-photon propulsion. In addition, this formalism opens fruitful ways to sophisticated sailcraft trajectories and missions. The following four chapters are devoted to the graduate student, chiefly.
- 4.
However, to restrain easy enthusiasm, we have to say that very distant space targets require so high energies that future very deep-space sailcraft have to be designed with much higher lightness number. This appears possible if sail system is designed via nanotechnology.
- 5.
When lightness number values in the range 0.5–0.7 are achieved (via nanotechnology), higher-speed impacts will be got in about 1 year too by using sailcraft trajectories very different from orbital cranking. However, the explanation of such performance is beyond of the aims of this chapter.
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Further Reading
Further Reading
A nice online review of JAXA plans for a hybrid sail/ion-drive mission to Jupiter and the Trojan asteroids can be found in S. Sasaki et al., Japanese mission plan for Jupiter system: the Jupiter magnetospheric orbiter and the Trojan asteroid explorer, presented at EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011. This is its web-address: http://yly-mac.gps.caltech.edu/A_DPS/dps%202011%20/a_dps%202011%20program%20+%20abstracts/pdf/EPSC-DPS2011-1091.pdf, checked successfully on May 20, 2014.
Many texts consider the kinematics of Hohmann transfer orbits. We used R. R. Bate, D. D. Mueller and J. E. White, Fundamentals of Astrodynamics, Dover, NY (1971). A nice source for the numerical values of astronomical and physical constants is K. Lodders and B. Fegley Jr., The Planetary Scientist’s Companion, Oxford University Press, NY (1998).
Our reference for the ion-thruster power level of the NASA Deep Space 1 probe is M. J. L. Turner, Rocket and Spacecraft Propulsion, 2nd ed., Springer-Praxis, Chichester, UK (2005).
The gravity tractor as a NEO deflection scheme has received a fair amount of attention in recent years. One reference is B. Wie, “Deflection and Control of Gravity Tractor Spacecraft for Asteroid Deflection,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 31, 1413-1423 (2008).
Orbit cranking by solar radiation pressure, as a method of altering orbital inclination without the expenditure of fuel, is considered by C. McInnes on pp. 143-146 of Solar Sailing: Technology, Dynamics, and Mission Applications, Springer-Praxis, Chichester, UK (1999). However, this method was first considered by JPL in the 1970s.
A review of the paintball NEO-diversion suggestion is available on-line as J. Chu, “Paintballs may Deflect an Incoming Asteroid,” MIT News, http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/deflecting-an-asteroid-with-paintballs-1026.html (accessed February 14, 2013).
The application of the solar collector in NEO deflection is discussed in the paper G. L. Matloff, Deflecting Earth-Threatening Asteroids Using the Solar Collector, Acta Astronautica, 82, 209-214 (2013).
Using both nuclear ion propulsion and solar-photon sailing for very high energy missions was first proposed and analyzed in detail by author Vulpetti in his paper Missions to the Heliopause and Beyond by Staged Propulsion Spacecraft, paper IAA-92-0240, The World Space Congress, Aug. 28 – Sept. 5, Washington D.C. (1992)
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Vulpetti, G., Johnson, L., Matloff, G.L. (2015). New Projects in Progress. In: Solar Sails. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0941-4_17
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