Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sailcraft Concepts

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Fast Solar Sailing

Part of the book series: Space Technology Library ((SPTL,volume 30))

  • 1597 Accesses

Abstract

The concept of sea sailing can be extended to space traveling. The basic idea is to utilize some energy already present in space for avoiding the main drawback of a rocket vehicle: to be forced to carry all necessary reaction mass onboard. The more energetic is the mission transfer the more massive is the spaceship. Future space missions are expected to increase in number, purpose, and energy. It should be clear that any new good method for practically enlarging human exploration and expansion does not mean quitting rocket propulsion. On the other hand, there are a high number of missions that are impossible to rockets, not strictly in mathematical terms, but because of the very large mass and complexity of the involved systems, including space infrastructures. In this chapter, three sailing modes for traveling in space are dealt with; only the third one is a “strict” sail, namely, a two-dimensional object through which an external-to-vehicle momentum flux can be captured and translated into thrust. After a summary of the solar-wind properties, subsequent sections describe concepts regarding generation of thrust via solar wind, but involve large volumes. In principle, this is not a limitation: problems would come from other features, as discussed. All other section/subsections of the chapter describe sailcraft and its main systems, at least as they are conceived today and how presumably may evolve. Solar-wind large fluctuations are emphasized by means of data coming from the NASA’s OMNIWeb interface.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    It was formerly named the interplanetary magnetic field, or IMF. Famous is the Parker’s theory; a subset of Parker’s papers is given in [23–29].

  2. 2.

    I.e. lasting less than one solar rotation period, typically.

  3. 3.

    Many elements, one or several times or totally ionized, are present in the solar wind: for example, C, N, O, Na, Ar, Xe, Mg, Si, Ca, S, Kr, Fe. Energy/charge distribution tails up to about 60 keV/e have been measured by spacecraft Ulysses; ions exhibit energy/mass values up to about \(60(Z_{\mathit{ion}}^{+}/A_{\mathit{ion}})~\mathrm{keV}/\mathrm{u}\), with a mean value of ≃10 keV/u.

  4. 4.

    During the flight, tearing may be caused by space debris and/or micro-meteorites.

  5. 5.

    In Chap. 6, we will give this adjective a quantitative meaning together with equations that may allow the analyst to calculate the effect of wrinkling on thrust case by case.

  6. 6.

    This monitoring may be effected via television cameras exploring the sail surface.

  7. 7.

    A polymer containing the so-called imide monomers, widely utilized in the electronics industry.

  8. 8.

    A piece of 10 m×10 m 2-micron sheet of CP1 was used by NASA for its experimental NanoSail-D [14], which did not achieve its orbit because of the failure of its launcher (August 2008). The flight spare—NanoSail-D2—was successfully launched in December 2010. It completed its mission on September 17, 2011.

  9. 9.

    Only very preliminary studies have been performed in Italy in the Nineties.

  10. 10.

    Though space satellites such as the NASA IMAGE spacecraft (March 2000–December 2005) and the ESA four-satellite CLUSTER (∼3–19 earth radii, still operational since August 2000) have discovered or confirmed fundamental phenomena in the Earth’s magnetosphere, nevertheless the realization of a sailcraft-based mission like GeoSail would combine SPS technological/physical aspects with measurements in the Earth magnetosphere in the region ∼11–23 earth radii (http://sci.esa.int).

  11. 11.

    Part of the solar wind penetrates into the magnetosphere and is channeled down to Earth, bringing about a number of phenomena, some of which may disturb human telecommunications and electric-energy transport (to cite the most common).

References

  1. Andrews, D. G., Zubrin, R. M. (1988), Magnetic sails and interstellar travel. In 39th IAF Congress, Bangalore, India. IAF-88-553, also published on Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 43, 265–272.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Balogh, A., Lanzerotti, L. J., Suess, S. T. (2008), The Heliosphere Through the Solar Activity Cycle. Berlin: Springer-Praxis. ISBN 978-3-540-74301-9.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Bavassano, B., Pietropaolo, E., Bruno, R. (2004), Compressive fluctuations in high-latitude solar wind. Annals of Geophysics, 22, 689–696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Borovsky, J. (2010), Contribution of strong discontinuities to the power spectrum of the solar wind. Physical Review Letters, 105, 111102. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.111102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Brumfiel, G. (2011), Voyager 1 reaches surprisingly calm boundary of interstellar space. Scientific AmericanTM, June 15, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bruno, R., Carbone, V. (2005), The solar wind as a turbulence laboratory. Living Reviews in Solar Physics, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Davidson, P. A. (2001), Cambridge Texts in Applied Mathematics. An Introduction to Magnetohydrodynamics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-794870.

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Ecke, R. (2005), The turbulent problem. Los Alamos Science, 29.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Goedbloed, J. P. H., Poedts, S. (2004), Principles of Magnetohydrodynamics: With Applications to Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62607-2.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  10. Janhunen, P. (2004), Electric sail for spacecraft propulsion. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 20(4).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Janhunen, P., Sandroos, A. (2007), Simulation study of solar wind push on a charged wire: basis of solar wind electric sail propulsion. Annals of Geophysics, 25, 755–767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Janhunen, P. (2008), The electric sail—a new propulsion method which may enable fast missions to the outer solar system. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 61(8), 322–325.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jenkins, C. H. M. (Ed.) (2006), Progress in Aeronautics and Astronautics: Vol. 212. Recent Advances in Gossamer Spacecraft. Washington: AIAA.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Johnson, L., Whorton, M., Heaton, A., Pinson, R., Laue, G., Adams, C. (2011), NanoSail-D: a solar sail demonstration mission. Acta Astronautica, 68(5–6), 571–575. Special issue: Aosta 2009 Symposium.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kolmogorov, A. N. (1941), The local structure turbulence in incompressible viscous fluids for very large Reynolds numbers. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, 30, 301–305. Reprinted in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 434, 913 (1991).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Krimigis, S. M., Roelof, E. C., Decker, R. B., Hill, M. E. (2011), Zero outward flow velocity for plasma in a heliosheath transition layer. Nature, 474, 359–361. doi:10.1038/nature10115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Matloff, G. L. (2005), Deep-Space Probes (2nd edn.). Chichester: Springer-Praxis. ISBN 3-540-24772-6.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Marsch, E. (2006), Kinetic physics of the solar corona and solar wind, Living Reviews in Solar Physics, 3(1).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Mathieu, J., Scott, J. (2000), An Introduction to Turbulent Flow. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-77538-8.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Mengali, G., Quarta, A. A., Janhunen, P. (2008), Considerations of electric sail trajectory design. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 61(8), 326–329.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Meyer-Vernet, N. (2007), Cambridge Atmospheric and Space Science Series. Basics of the Solar Wind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81420-1.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  22. NASA/GSFC OMNIWeb Interface, http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

  23. Parker, E. N. (1958), Dynamics of the interplanetary gas and magnetic fields. The Astrophysical Journal, 128, 664–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Parker, E. N. (1960), The hydrodynamic theory of solar Corpuscular radiation and stellar winds. The Astrophysical Journal, 132, 821–866.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Parker, E. N. (1991), Heating solar coronal holes. The Astrophysical Journal, 372, 719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Parker, E. N. (1996), The alternative paradigm for magnetospheric physics. Journal of Geophysical Research, 101(A5), 10587–10626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Parker, E. N. (1999), Space physics before the space age. The Astrophysical Journal, 525C, 792–793.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Parker, E. N. (2009), Solar magnetism: the state of our knowledge and ignorance. Space Science Reviews, 144, 15–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Parker, E. N. (2010), Kinetic and hydrodynamic representations of coronal expansion and the solar wind. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1216, 3–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Pizzo, V. J. (1991), The evolution of corotating stream fronts near the ecliptic plane in the inner solar system, 2: three-dimensional tilted dipole fronts. Journal of Geophysical Research, 96, 5405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Reynolds, O. (1895), On the dynamical theory of incompressible viscous fluids and the determination of the criterion. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 186, 123–164. doi:10.1098/rsta.1895.0004.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  32. Riazantseva, M. O., Zastenker, G. N. (2008), Intermittency of solar wind density fluctuations and its relation to sharp density changes. Cosmic Research, 46(1), 17. doi:10.1134/S0010952508010012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Rozelot, J.-P. (2006), Solar and Heliospheric Origins of Space Weather Phenomena. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 3-540-33758-X, ISBN 978-3-540-33758-4.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  34. Salem, C., Mangeney, A., Bale, S. D., Veltri, P. (2009), Solar wind magnetohydrodynamics turbulence: anomalous scaling and role of intermittency. The Astrophysical Journal, 702, 537–553. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/702/1/537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Shepherd, L. R. (1990), Memorandum of the interstellar space exploration committee. In 41st Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, Dresden, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Smith, E. J., Zhou, X. (2007), Turbulence and Non-Linear Processes in Astrophysical Plasmas, Honolulu, Hawaii.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Toivanen, P. K., Janhunen, P. (2009), Electric sailing under observed solar wind conditions. Astrophysics and Space Sciences Transactions, 5, 61–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Vulpetti, G. (1980), Noise-effects in relativistic pure-rocket dynamics, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 33, 27–34.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Vulpetti, G. (1990), Dynamics of field sail spaceships. Acta Astronautica, 21, 679–687.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  40. Vulpetti, G., Pecchioli, M. (1991), The two-sail propulsion concept. Paper IAA-91-721, 42nd Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, Montreal, Canada, October 5–11.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Vulpetti, G. (1994), A critical review on the viability of a space propulsion based on the solar wind momentum flux. Acta Astronautica, 32(32), 641–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Vulpetti, G. (2000), Sailcraft-based mission to the solar gravitational lens. In STAIF-2000, Albuquerque, NM, USA, January 30–February 3.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Vulpetti, G., Santoli, S., Mocci, G. (2008), Preliminary investigation on carbon nanotube membranes for photon solar sails. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 61(8), 284–289.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Wilson, M. N. (1986), Superconducting Magnets. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Winglee, R. M., Slough, J., Ziemba, T., Goodson, A. (2000), Mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion: tapping the energy of the solar wind for spacecraft propulsion. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105(A9), 21,067–21,077.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Wood, B. E., Howard, R. A., Thernisien, A., Socker, D. G. (2010), The three-dimensional morphology of a corotating interaction region in the inner heliosphere. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 708, L89. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/708/2/L89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Zubrin, R. M. (1989), Use of magnetic sails for Mars exploration mission. In AIAA-ASME-ASEE 25th Joint Propulsion Conference, July 1989. AIAA-89-2861.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Zubrin, R. M. (1993), The use of magnetic sails to escape from low Earth orbit. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 46.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Academy of Astronautics—Paris, France, Rome, Italy

    Giovanni Vulpetti

Authors
  1. Giovanni Vulpetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Vulpetti, G. (2013). Sailcraft Concepts. In: Fast Solar Sailing. Space Technology Library, vol 30. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4777-7_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4777-7_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4776-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4777-7

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation