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Abstract
This paper investigates time-optimal solar sail trajectories between displaced Libration Point Orbits (LPOs) of different circular restricted three-body systems. Key in the investigations is the search for transfers that require little steering ef-fort to enable the transfers with low control authority solar sail-like devices such as SpaceChips. Two transfers are considered: 1) from an Earth-L2 Halo orbit to a Mars-L1 Halo orbit and 2) from an Earth-L1 Halo orbit to a Mercury-L2 Halo or-bit. For both transfers the optimal control problem is derived and solved with a direct pseudospectral method. For a sail performance comparable to that of NASA’s Sunjammer sail, the results show transfers that require very little steer-ing effort: the sail acceleration vector can be bounded to a cone with a half angle of 5 deg (Earth-Mars) or even 2.5 deg (Earth-Mercury). These transfers can serve a range of novel solar sail applications covering the entire spectrum of sail length-scales: micro-sized SpaceChips could establish a continuous Earth-Mars communication link, a traditional-sized sail provides opportunities for in-situ observations of Mercury and a future kilometer-sized sail could create an Earth-Mars cargo transport gateway for human exploration of Mars.
Original language | English |
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Pages | AIAA-AAS-DyCoSS2-03-04 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Publication status | Published - 24 Mar 2014 |
Event | 2nd Conference on Dynamics and Control of Space Systems, DyCoSS2 - Rome, Italy Duration: 24 Mar 2014 → 26 Mar 2014 |
Conference
Conference | 2nd Conference on Dynamics and Control of Space Systems, DyCoSS2 |
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Country/Territory | Italy |
City | Rome |
Period | 24/03/14 → 26/03/14 |
Keywords
- solar sails
- interplanetary trajectory design
- libration point orbits
- halo orbits
- Mars exploration
- Mars mission
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Optimisation of solar sail interplanetary heteroclinic connections'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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VISIONSPACE - VISIONARY SPACE SYSTEMS: ORBITAL DYNAMICS AT EXTREMES OF SPACECRAFT LENGTH SCALE (ERC ADVANCED GRANT)
McInnes, C.
European Commission - FP7 - European Research Council
1/02/09 → 30/09/14
Project: Research