Nonlinear static analysis-based thrust for solar sail

Abstract

An accurate thrust model is extremely important for the navigation and space mission of solar sails. The thrust is deeply affected by the deformation of the highly flexible structure. Thus, in this paper, the exact thrust models for two-point and infinite-point-connected sails are presented by calculating the static deformations for the sail support beam structure with geometrical nonlinearity based on the assumption that the deformation of the sail film coincides with the support beam. And the film is merely regarded as the structure that transfers the solar radiation pressure force to the support beam. The nonlinear finite element model of the support beam with the Von-Karman’s nonlinear strain–displacement relationships is obtained. Then the Newton iteration method is used to calculate the large deformation of the sail structure. The thrust-modification methods are proposed for the two-connected sail. The deformation of the two-point-connected sail is larger than the infinite-point-connected sail, and the thrust loss of the two-point-connected sail is larger than the infinite-point-connected sail by nonlinear static calculations. Some suggestions are given based on the calculation results and relevant analysis. The thrust model should be verified and modified by in-flight data in the future.

Keywords

Solar sail large deformation thrust finite element geometrical nonlinearity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Gong

Baoyin

. Solar sail three-body transfer trajectory design. J Guidance Control Dyn 2010; 33: 873–886.

Tsuda

Mori

Funase

. Achievement of IKAROS-Japanese deep space solar sail demonstration mission. Acta Astronaut 2013; 82: 183–188.

Tsuda

Saiki

Funase

. Generalized attitude model for spinning solar sail spacecraft. J Guidance Control Dyn 2013; 36: 967–974.

Johnson

Whorton

Heaton

. NanoSail-D: a solar sail demonstration mission. Acta Astronaut 2011; 68: 571–575.

Lappas

Adelia

Visagie

. CubeSail: a low cost CubeSat based solar sail demonstration mission. Adv Space Res 2011; 48: 1890–1901.

Nehrenz M, Diaz A, Svitek T, et al. Initial design and simulation of the LightSail-1 attitude determination and control system. In: Proceedings of the second international symposium on solar sailing, New York, 20–22 July 2010, pp.135–140.

Gong

BaoYin

. A new solar sail orbit. Sci China Technol Sci 2012; 5: 848–855.

Ceriotti

Heiligers

McInnes

. Trajectory and spacecraft design for a Pole-Sitter mission. J Spacecraft Rockets 2013; 31: 10–29.

Gong

. A curved surface solar radiation pressure force model for solar sail deformation. Sci China Phys Mech Astron 2012; 55: 141–155.

10.

Greschik G. A linear photonic thrust model and its application to the L’Garde solar sail surface. In: Proceedings of 54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC structures, structural dynamics, and materials conference, 8–11 April 2013, Boston, Massachusetts, pp.1–11.

11.

Mengali G, Quarta AA, Circi C, et al. Refined solar sail force model with mission application. J Guidance Control Dyn 2007; 30(2): 512–520.

12.

Dachwald

Macdonald

McInnes

. Impact of optical degradation on solar sail mission performance. J Spacecraft Rocket 2007; 44(4): 740–749.

13.

Dachwald

Mengali

Macdonald

. Parametric model and optimal control of solar sails with optical degradation. J Guidance Control Dyn 2006; 29(5): 1170–1178.

14.

Reyes

Scheeres

. Solar-sail navigation: estimation of force, moments, and optical parameters. J Guidance Control Dyn 2007; 30(3): 660–668.

15.

Reyes

Scheeres

. Generalized model for solar sails. J Spacecraft Rocket 2005; 42(1): 182–185.

16.

Sakamoto

Miyazaki

Park

. Finite element modeling of sail deformation under solar radiation pressure. J Spacecraft Rocket 2007; 44(3): 514–521.

17.

Ingrassian

Faccin

Bolle

. Solar sail elastic displacement effects on interplanetary trajectories. Acta Astronaut 2013; 82: 263–272.

18.

Yamaguchi

Ikeda

Mimasu

. Solar sail force modeling for spinning solar sail using the radiometric tracking data. J Aerospace Eng Sci Appl 2011; 3: 21–34.

19.

Shirasawa Y, Mori O, Sawada H, et al. A study on membrane dynamics and deformation of solar power sail demonstrator “IKAROS”. In: Proceedings of 53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC structures, structural dynamics and materials conference, 23–26 April 2012, Honolulu, Hawaii, pp.1–12.

20.

Tsuda Y, Saiki T, Funase R, et al. Shape parameters estimation of IKAROS solar sail using in-flight attitude determination data. In: Proceedings of 52nd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC structures, structural dynamics and materials conference, 4–7 April 2011, Denver, Colorado, pp.1–12.

21.

Yamaguchi

Mimasu

Tsuda

. Hybrid estimation of solar radiation pressure for a spinning solar sail spacecraft. J Spacecraft Rocket 2014; 51(1): 381–384.

22.

Tsuda

Saiki

Funase

. Generalized attitude model for spinning solar sail spacecraft. J Guidance Control Dyn 2013; 36(4): 967–974.

23.

Zhang

Wang

. Coupled attitude-orbit control of flexible solar sail for displaced solar orbit. J Spacecraft Rocket 2013; 50: 675–685.

24.

Wang

. Reduced model for flexible solar sail dynamics. J Spacecraft Rocket 2011; 48: 446–453.

25.

Sleight DW and Muheim DM. Parametric studies of square solar sails using finite element analysis. In: Proceedings of 45th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC structures, structural dynamics and materials conference, Palm Springs, CA, 2004, pp.1–13.

26.

Wie

. Solar sail attitude control and dynamics, Part 1. J Guidance Control Dyn 2004; 27: 526–535.