Wind Rider Pathfinder Mission to Trappist-1 Solar Gravitational Lens Focal Region in 8 Years

Freeze, Brent; Greason, Jeffrey; Lamontagne, Michel; Conway, Darrel; Fuller, John; Nader, Ronnie; Davis, Eric W.; Cassibry, Jason; Thomas, Stephanie; Febres, Jaime Jaramillo; Chaves, Adolfo; Meholic, Greg

doi:10.1002/essoar.10509148.1

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Such structures include but are not limited to: the termination shock [3,22], the heliopause [3,22,19], the slow and fast solar wind [25,39], and the boundary of the planetary magnetosphere [42,36,33]. While the density of these structures varies, analysis of drag devices such as the plasma magnet have shown that the extend of the artificially generated magnetosphere around the vehicle naturally expands as the surrounding density decreases [15,11,35,34].Specifically, the magnetic structure around the spacecraft will expand until the magnetic pressure matches the dynamic pressure of the solar wind. This effect makes devices such as the plasma magnet nearly constant drag as they move outward from the sun.…”

Section: Possible Trajectoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another application of the wind-riding plasma magnet technology would be a demonstration of rapid access to the solar gravitational lens (SGL) distance (> 550 AU). The study, called Wind Rider Pathfinder Mission, has shown the SGL region could be accessed in less than 7 years from launch using this technology [11]. These groundbreaking missions would provide validation that meaningful propulsive power could be extracted from the solar wind, providing a foundation for the more advanced concept of extracting electrical power from the wind for lift-generation.…”

Section: Technology Roadmapmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamic soaring as a means to exceed the solar wind speed

Larrouturou

Higgins

Greason

2022

Front. Space Technol.

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A technique by which a spacecraft can interact with flows of ionized gas in space (the solar wind or interstellar medium) in order to be accelerated to velocities greater than the flow velocity is explored. Inspired by the dynamic soaring maneuvers performed by sea birds and gliders in which differences in wind speed are exploited to gain velocity, in the proposed technique a lift-generating spacecraft circles between regions of the heliosphere that have different wind speeds, gaining energy in the process without the use of propellant and only modest onboard power requirements. In the simplest analysis, the spacecraft motion can be modeled as a series of elastic collisions between regions of the medium moving at different speeds. More detailed models of the spacecraft trajectory are developed to predict the potential velocity gains and the maximum velocity that may be achieved in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio of the vehicle. A lift-generating mechanism is proposed in which power is extracted from the flow over the vehicle in the flight direction and then used to accelerate the surrounding medium in the transverse direction, generating lift (i.e., a force perpendicular to the flow). Large values of lift-to-drag ratio are shown to be possible in the case where a small transverse velocity is imparted over a large area of interaction. The requirement for a large interaction area in the extremely low density of the heliosphere precludes the use of a physical wing, but the use of plasma waves generated by a compact, directional antenna to impart momentum on the surrounding medium is feasible, with the excitation of R-waves, X-waves, Alfven waves, and magnetosonic waves appearing as promising candidates. A conceptual mission is defined in which dynamic soaring is performed on the termination shock of the heliosphere, enabling a spacecraft to reach speeds approaching 2% of c within two and a half years of launch without the expenditure of propellant. The technique may comprise the first stage for a multistage mission to achieve true interstellar flight to other solar systems.

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