Solar sail technology development and demonstration

Technology Requirements of Exploration Beyond Neptune by Solar Sail Propulsion

“…The use of a square sail is important to consider as this sail architecture has formed the focus of much of the recent solar sail hardware development by both ESA [38][39][40] and NASA [41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. It is noted that the hybrid solar sail/SEP IKAROS project is based on a spinning, square sail architecture [48] and could be a critical stepping stone towards the development of future pure solar sail…”

Multiple near-Earth asteroid rendezvous and sample return using first generation solar sailcraft

“…2) [2,3]. The square solar sail consisted of four CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastics) booms with a specific mass of 101 g/m and of four triangular sail segments made of aluminumcoated (0.1 m) plastic films with a thickness between 4 and 12 m. The booms consisted of two CFRP shells that were bonded at the edges to form a tubular shape, so that they can be pressed flat and rolled up (Fig.…”

“…Based on our experience from the successful ground deployment of a (20 m) 2 solar sail structure in December 1999 at DLR [2][3][4], we consider even a (70 m) 2 solar sail with a specific mass of about 20 g/m 2 to be a realistic, however still ambitious, near-term development goal. It will be shown that, using a (70 m) 2 solar sail with a specific mass of 22.7 g/m 2 , ENEAS-SR would be able to return a sample from the C-type NEA 1996FG 3 to Earth within 10 years from launch. This would be possible with a payload of about 300 kg, including a lander and a sample return capsule.…”

Nonlinear buckling and folding analysis of a storable tubular ultrathin boom for nanosatellites

“…In addition, in cylindrical composite booms, the cross-sectional shape plays an important role in the definition of the loading limits. Different types of crosssections were studied in the literature, including Y-shape, single STEM, interlocked bi-STEM omega shape [10], and double omega cross-section [3,9,13,14].…”