The Solar Sail Materials (SSM) project – Status of activities

Vedova, Florio Dalla; Henrion, H.; Leipold, M.; Girot, Th.; Vaudemont, R.; Belmonte, Thierry; Fleury, K.; Couls, O. Le

doi:10.1016/j.asr.2011.08.003

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These materials are used as substrate and then coated with a thin aluminum film to obtain a more reflective surface. The choice of the materials is fundamental in order to achieve the best performance in terms of a number of possible folds and lightness of the structure [10] and active surface [11]. Because of the costs of these materials, it has been necessary to use an alternative material for the construction of prototypes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shape Memory Activated Self-Deployable Solar Sails: Small-Scale Prototypes Manufacturing and Planarity Analysis by 3D Laser Scanner

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Solar sails are propellantless systems where the propulsive force is given by the momentum exchange of reflecting photons. Thanks to the use of shape memory alloys for the self-actuation of the system, complexity of the structure itself has decreased and so has the weight of the whole structure. Four self-deploying systems based on the NiTi shape memory wires have been designed and manufactured in different configurations (wires disposal and folding number). The deployed solar sails surfaces have been acquired by a Nextengine 3D Laser Scanner based on the Multistripe Triangulation. 3D maps have been pre-processed through Geomagic Studio and then elaborated in the Wolfram Mathematica environment. The planarity degree has been evaluated as level curves from the regression plane highlighting marked differences between the four configurations and locating the vertices as the most critical zones. These results are useful in the optimization of the best folding solution both in the weight/surface reduction and in the planarity degree of the solar sail.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shape Memory Activated Self-Deployable Solar Sails: Small-Scale Prototypes Manufacturing and Planarity Analysis by 3D Laser Scanner

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The choice of the materials is fundamental in order to achieve the best performance in terms of active surface, number of possible folds, and lightness of the structure (Dalla Vedova et al, 2011; Kezera, 2009). For this reason, thin films (2.5 µm) of adhesive kapton (1.4 g/cm 3 ) can be applied on thin commercial aluminum films (12 µm).…”

Section: Materials For Solar Sail and Smasmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel methodology for solar sail opening employing shape memory alloy elements

Costanza

Tata

2018

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Solar sails exploit the radiation pressure as propulsion system. Sunlight is used to propel space vehicles by reflecting solar photons from a large and lightweight material, so that no propellant is required for primary propulsion. Kapton seems to be the most suitable material for the sail production and in the space missions till now activated booms as deployment systems have always been used. In this work, an innovative self-deploying system based on NiTi shape memory wires has been designed and manufactured in a small-scale prototype. As kapton has always been employed with a thin Al coating on the surface of the sail, commercial pure Al thin sheets with thin adhesive kapton have been used in order to simulate the sail. The attention has been focused, in the deployment experiments performed in the laboratory, on the effect of different heating methods and different pressure conditions on the activation times. The folded configuration chosen has been deployed in atmospheric condition and in low pressure condition (0.05 bar) inside a oven connected to a rotary pump. For what concerns the heating methods, the attention has been focused on low-pressure oven ISCO NSV 9035 (1.3 kW) and on halogen lamp (1 kW) in order to obtain the self-deployment of the sail. Some comparisons between the two configurations in the different environmental conditions have been performed. In all cases, the full self-activation of the sail has been achieved.

show abstract

“…Tearing or lacerations during the entire operational life of the sail are not allowed. The application of a low density metallic reflective film [6,7] on the surface must also be possible. The adhesion, on the other side, of a material with a high thermal conductivity must also be allowed so that the heat absorbed by the structure can be quickly disposed of, without increasing temperature excessively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deployment of Solar Sails by Joule Effect: Thermal Analysis and Experimental Results

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Space vehicles may be propelled by solar sails exploiting the radiation pressure coming from the sun and applied on their surfaces. This work deals with the adoption of Nickel-Titanium Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) elements in the sail deployment mechanism activated by the Joule Effect, i.e., using the same SMA elements as a resistance within suitable designed electrical circuits. Mathematical models were analyzed for the thermal analysis by implementing algorithms for the evaluation of the temperature trend depending on the design parameters. Several solar sail prototypes were built up and tested with different number, size, and arrangement of the SMA elements, as well as the type of the selected electrical circuit. The main parameters were discussed in the tested configurations and advantages discussed as well.

show abstract

The Solar Sail Materials (SSM) project – Status of activities

Cited by 19 publications

References 2 publications

Shape Memory Activated Self-Deployable Solar Sails: Small-Scale Prototypes Manufacturing and Planarity Analysis by 3D Laser Scanner

Shape Memory Activated Self-Deployable Solar Sails: Small-Scale Prototypes Manufacturing and Planarity Analysis by 3D Laser Scanner

A novel methodology for solar sail opening employing shape memory alloy elements

Deployment of Solar Sails by Joule Effect: Thermal Analysis and Experimental Results

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About