Deorbiting Upper-Stages in LEO at EOM using Solar Sails

Locally optimal control laws for Earth-bound solar sailing with atmospheric drag

“…As a consequence, results found with the latter dynamics have limited applicability in the analysis of high-fidelity solar-sail trajectories. Preliminary studies on perturbed, Earth-bound sailcraft trajectories have been proposed only in small numbers, with particular focus on the analysis of the coupled effects of SRP and planetary radiation pressure for Earth-centered orbits [15,16], studies on SRP and aerodynamics-based optimal control laws for orbit raising and maneuvering [17][18][19][20], and the analysis of the drag-induced active debris removal and deorbiting capabilities of solar sails [21][22][23][24]. The highly-nonlinear dynamical models considering the effects of planetary radiation pressure and/or aerodynamics significantly complicate the computation of optimal steering laws.…”