Controllable liquid crystal diffractive sail and its potential applications

Yin, Chang; Firuzi, Shahin; Gong, Shengping

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.02.003

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Srivastava and Swartzlander [20] described the optomechanics of a rigid nonspinning light sail that mitigated a catastrophic sail walk-off and tumbling using a flat axicon diffraction grating. Other recent studies by Serak et al [21], Srivastava et al [22], Chu et al [23], and Chu et al [24] confirmed the potential of this technology in the field of solar sail research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Optimal interplanetary trajectories for Sun-facing ideal diffractive sails

et al. 2023

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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.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Optimal interplanetary trajectories for Sun-facing ideal diffractive sails

et al. 2023

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“…More precisely, comparing a diffractive and a reflective sail on the same reference mission for the same area-to-mass ratio, the diffractive sail allows the target to be reached in a shorter flight time or, for the same mission time, the diffractive sail allows the use of a smaller area-to-mass ratio than the reflective sail [21]. Recently, the performance of this type of propellantless systems has been studied in a number of mission scenarios [22], including orbit raising [19], interplanetary transfers [23], and the generation of heliocentric non-Keplerian orbits [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal Trajectories of Diffractive Sail to Highly Inclined Heliocentric Orbits

Mengali,

Quarta

2024

Applied Sciences

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Recent literature indicates that the diffractive sail concept is an interesting alternative to the more conventional reflective solar sail, which converts solar radiation pressure into a (deep space) thrust using a thin, lightweight highly reflective membrane, usually metalized. In particular, a diffractive sail, which uses a metamaterial-based membrane to diffract incoming solar rays, is able to generate a steerable thrust vector even when the sail nominal plane is perpendicular to the Sun–spacecraft line. This paper analyzes the optimal transfer performance of a diffractive-sail-based spacecraft in a challenging heliocentric scenario that is consistent with the proposed Solar Polar Imager mission concept. In this case, the spacecraft must reach a near-circular (heliocentric) orbit with a high orbital inclination with respect to the Ecliptic in order to observe and monitor the Sun’s polar regions. Such a specific heliocentric scenario, because of the high velocity change it requires, is a mission application particularly suited for a propellantless propulsion system such as the classical solar sail. However, as shown in this work, the same transfer can be accomplished using a diffractive sail as the primary propulsion system. The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of the spacecraft transfer trajectory using a near-optimal strategy by dividing the entire flight into an approach phase to a circular orbit of the same radius as the desired final orbit but with a smaller inclination, and a subsequent cranking phase until the desired (orbital) inclination is reached. The numerical simulations show that the proposed strategy is sufficiently simple to implement and can provide solutions that differ by only a few percentage points from the optimal results obtainable with a classical indirect approach.

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“…More recently, building on the above interesting results [10,12], the authors [13,14] have analyzed the performance of a Sun-facing diffractive sail in the context of minimum-time interplanetary trajectories. Many other literature works [15][16][17][18][19] demonstrate the growing interest of scientists in the diffractive sail concept. According to the recent literature [12,13], unlike reflecting solar sails, the great advantage of refractive and diffractive sails is that they can generate a large transverse component of thrust, even when facing the Sun, such as when their nominal plane is perpendicular to the Sun-spacecraft line.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffractive Sail-Based Displaced Orbits for High-Latitude Environment Monitoring

Bassetto,

Mengali,

Quarta

2023

Remote Sensing

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This paper analyzes the possibility of maintaining a circular displaced non-Keplerian orbit around the Sun by means of a Sun-facing diffractive sail. With the goal of monitoring the Earth’s high-latitude regions, the spacecraft is required to track its displaced orbit at an angular velocity equal to the mean motion of the planet. In doing so, the spacecraft keeps a constant average phase shift with respect to Earth’s angular position along its orbit, allowing the objectives of the scientific mission to be achieved. The diffractive sail, recently proposed by Swartzlander and chosen in this paper as the spacecraft’s primary propulsion system, is a special photonic solar sail in which the membrane film is covered by an advanced diffractive metamaterial. In particular, a Sun-facing diffractive sail with a grating at normal incidence generates radial and transverse thrust components of equal magnitude; that is, the thrust vector is tilted 45 degrees from the Sun-spacecraft line. This peculiarity enables the diffractive sail to maintain a family of circular displaced non-Keplerian orbits, each of which is characterized by unique values of radius and a lightness number for an assigned value of spacecraft displacement relative to the Ecliptic. A comparison with the ideal reflecting sail shows that the diffractive sail performs better because for the same overall spacecraft mass, the latter needs about 30% less surface area exposed to the Sun. Finally, this paper discusses the classical stability problem, assuming an error in orbit insertion of the diffractive sail-based spacecraft. In this context, extensive numerical simulations show that such displaced orbits are marginally stable.

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Controllable liquid crystal diffractive sail and its potential applications

Cited by 16 publications

References 52 publications

Optimal interplanetary trajectories for Sun-facing ideal diffractive sails

Optimal interplanetary trajectories for Sun-facing ideal diffractive sails

Optimal Trajectories of Diffractive Sail to Highly Inclined Heliocentric Orbits

Diffractive Sail-Based Displaced Orbits for High-Latitude Environment Monitoring

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