Development and Ground Testing of a Compactly Stowed Inflatably Deployed Solar Sail

Lichodziejewski, David; Derbes, Billy; Reinert, R.; Belvin, Keith; Slade, Kara N.; Mann, Troy

doi:10.2514/6.2004-1507

Cited by 40 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…2. 7,8,9 . The solar sail has vanes integrated onto the tips of the support beams to provide full 3-axis control of the solar sail.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7,8,12,13,14,15 In phase 1 of the program, a test plan was created consisting of solar sail component, sub-system, and sub-scale system ground tests that simulated the vacuum and thermal environments of space with the limitation of being tested within Earth's gravitational field. In phase 2 of the program, boom component test articles of the solar sail were initially tested to determine material and section properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Structural Analysis and Test Comparison of a 20-Meter Inflation-Deployed Solar Sail

Sleight¹,

Mann²,

Lichodziejewski³

et al. 2006

47th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials ConferenceSelf Cite

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“…2. 7,8,9 . The solar sail has vanes integrated onto the tips of the support beams to provide full 3-axis control of the solar sail.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%

Structural Analysis and Test Comparison of a 20-Meter Inflation-Deployed Solar Sail
Sleight¹,
Mann²,
Lichodziejewski³
et al. 2006
47th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials ConferenceSelf Cite
12
0
2
0
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“…The NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is a member of the L'Garde solar sail team and is providing both experimental and analytical support for validating the structural characteristics of this unique, ultra-lightweight spacecraft concept [Refs. [1][2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%

In-Vacuum Photogrammetry of a 10-Meter Solar Sail
Meyer¹,
Aerospace
²
,
Jones
³

et al. 2005
46th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference
9
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5
0
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In July 2004, a 10-meter solar sail structure developed by L'Garde, Inc. was tested in vacuum at the NASA Glenn 30-meter Plum Brook Space Power Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. The three main objections of the test were to demonstrate unattended deployment from a stowed configuration, to measure the deployed shape of the sail at both ambient and cryogenic boom temperatures, and to measure the deployed structural dynamic characteristics (vibration modes). This paper summarizes the work conducted to fulfill the second test objective. The deployed shape was measured photogrammetrically in vacuum conditions with four 2-megapixel digital video cameras contained in custommade pressurized canisters. The canisters included high-intensity LED ring lights to illuminate a grid of retroreflective targets distributed on the solar sail. The test results closely matched pre-test photogrammetry numerical simulations and compare well with ABAQUS finite-element model predictions.

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“…Prior to a flight experiment of a full-scale solar sail, a comprehensive phased test plan is currently being implemented to advance the technology readiness level of the solar sail design 7,8 . The tests consist of solar sail component, subsystem, and sub-scale system ground tests that simulate aspects of the space environment such as vacuum and thermal conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%

“…The 100-m baseline solar sail concept shown in Fig. 1 was optimized around the 1 astronomical unit (AU) Geostorm mission 5,6 ; and features a sail net/membrane with a striped sail suspension architecture with inflation-deployed beams consisting of inflatable sub-T g (glass transition temperature) rigidizable semimonocoque booms and a spreader system 7,8 . Sub-T g or cold rigidization takes advantage of the increase in modulus of certain materials below their glass transition temperature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%

Finite Element Analysis and Test Correlation of a 10-Meter Inflation-Deployed Solar Sail
Sleight
¹
,
Michii
²
,
Lichodziejewski
³

et al. 2005
46th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference
Self Cite
20
0
12
0
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Under the direction of the NASA In-Space Propulsion Technology Office, the team of L'Garde, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ball Aerospace, and NASA Langley Research Center has been developing a scalable solar sail configuration to address NASA's future space propulsion needs. Prior to a flight experiment of a full-scale solar sail, a comprehensive phased test plan is currently being implemented to advance the technology readiness level of the solar sail design. These tests consist of solar sail component, subsystem, and sub-scale system ground tests that simulate the vacuum and thermal conditions of the space environment. Recently, two solar sail test articles, a 7.4-m beam assembly subsystem test article and a 10-m four-quadrant solar sail system test article, were tested in vacuum conditions with a gravity-offload system to mitigate the effects of gravity. This paper presents the structural analyses simulating the ground tests and the correlation of the analyses with the test results. For programmatic risk reduction, a two-prong analysis approach was undertaken in which two separate teams independently developed computational models of the solar sail test articles using the finite element analysis software packages: NEiNastran and ABAQUS. This paper compares the pre-test and post-test analysis predictions from both software packages with the test data including load-deflection curves from static load tests, and vibration frequencies and mode shapes from vibration tests. The analysis predictions were in reasonable agreement with the test data. Factors that precluded better correlation of the analyses and the tests were uncertainties in the material properties, test conditions, and modeling assumptions used in the analyses.

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Development and Ground Testing of a Compactly Stowed Inflatably Deployed Solar Sail

Cited by 40 publications

References 2 publications

Structural Analysis and Test Comparison of a 20-Meter Inflation-Deployed Solar Sail

Structural Analysis and Test Comparison of a 20-Meter Inflation-Deployed Solar Sail

In-Vacuum Photogrammetry of a 10-Meter Solar Sail

Finite Element Analysis and Test Correlation of a 10-Meter Inflation-Deployed Solar Sail

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