SOLAR SAIL

ed by

Presented by DHEERAJ MURALI M A , 7316

INTRODUCTION
400 years back Johannes Kepler proposed the idea A spacecraft without an engine Pushed along directly by light from the Sun Reflects light off giant mirror-like sails Doesnt need fuel, so weight is reduced Keeps accelerating over almost

WORKING

Li h t i m a d e u p o f g s p a cke ts o f e n e rg y kn o w n as photons I ci e n t ra ys n d of su n l g h t re fl ct o ff i e th e so l r sa i a t a n a l angl e C hange i n m o m e n tu m

Two components of force i In the direction of the incident sunlight . i In a direction normal to the incident i . rays Components tangent to the sail surface cancel out Components normal to the surface add up to produce the thrust normal to the sail surface Reflected photons energy flux = energy flux prior to the interaction, but a different momentum vector This altered momentum vector that gives the ship an accelerating force

WHY SOLAR SAILS ?

A Sail of 1 sq km are would only feel about 9 Newtons Normal space shuttle main engine produce 1.67 million N of force during liftoff 2.1 million N of thrust in a vacuum How Solar sail is effective i. no noticeable friction ii.space is very empty and clean so there is plenty of room iii.Continuous supply of energy

DISTANCE v/s TIME

Distance from sun to Pluto = 32 . 1 AU NASA s New Horizon mission = 10 yrs

SECTION A :- DETAILS
Initial acceleration low Due to effect of gravity and low pressure increase rate

C O M P A R IT IV E S T U D Y

In 100 days, a sail-propelled craft could reach 14,000 kilometres per hour In just three years, a solar sail could reach over 150,000 miles per hour. At that speed, you could reach Pluto in less than five years Far away from the Sun, the highly focused beams of lasers can be directed at the sails to boost them onto interstellar trajectories.

COMPONENTS

There are three components to a solar sailpowered spacecraft i. Continuous force exerted by sunlight ii.A large, ultrathin mirror iii.A separate launch vehicle Ultra thin mirror :- large flat smooth sheets of very thin film, supported by ultralightweight structures Side of film which faces the sun is coated with a highly reflective material Some times reinforcement are also

SAIL DESIGNS

vHeliogyro

Plastic-film blades deployed from rollers Film held out by centrifugal forces No mass advantage over a square sail Attractive because the method of deploying the sail is simpler than a Square sail.

Spinning Disk Sail (Ring sails)

a)Panels are attached to the edge of a rotating spacecraft have slight gaps, about 1% - 5% of the total area b)Lines would connect the edges of sails c) Weights in the middles of these lines would pull the sails taut

S A IL D E P L O Y M E N T

BOOM STRUCTURE

COILED BOOM

UNCOILED BOOM

SAIL MATERIALS

Essential Qualities i. Lightweight ii. Highly reflective iii.Tolerate extreme temperatures Materials a) Aluminium b)Titanium c)Nickel d)Silicon Monoxide

A L U M IN IU M

High reflectivity, low density, a reasonable melting point, and a very low vapour pressure Doesnt agglomerate due to formation of an oxide layer on the aluminium Creep is a factor of concern Aluminium films of the minimum thickness required for reflectivity may i. Prove too weak to support the stresses imposed during fabrication ii.Creep under load at elevated

S tre n g th e n e d b y a d d i g a re i fo rci g n n n fi m o f a stro n g e r , m o re re fra cto ry l m a te ri l a. G o o d re i fo rci g fi m fe a tu re s : S tro n g , n n l Li h t, a n d E a sy to d e p o si g t N o n e e d n o t fo r ch e m i l co m p a ti i i ca b l ty w i al m i i m th u n u M e ta l , su ch a s n i l m a y re fl ct w e l s cke , e l a n d a l p ro vi e re i fo rce m e n t so d n

Titanium and Nickel

Films of pure titanium from 150 to 2,000 nm thick were found to have strengths of 460 to 620 Npa Titanium has enough strength and temperature tolerance to make it an attractive choice as a reinforcing film.` Strength of nickel film exceeds 2,000 NPa at a thickness of 70 nanometers. Nickels density is a disadvantage for use in sails

NICKE L

TITANIU M

Silicon Monoxide and Boron

Satellite thermal control coatings Refractory, Low density, High strength in extremely thin film form Reinforcing film material Strength of 620 MPa Can be made as thin as 4 nanometres

SiO2

BORON

CASE STUDY : NANOSAIL-D

Nano satellite - or Cubesat Designed to test the potential for solar sails in atmospheric braking Used an ultra-thin and light polymer named CP1 Deployed in low-Earth orbit, about 650 km Launched by Falcon-1 launch vehicle in August 2008

Immediately after ejection today, a timer started a three-day countdown. On reaching zero count , all four booms will spring out from the small satellite, and within five seconds the sail will be fully extended Final size of 100 square foot (10 square meter) sail-span.

APPLICATIONS
Solar weather stations Monitoring the geomagnetic storms Launching small satellites Remote sensing Probes to end of Milky way Search for extra terrestrial life

Merits and Demerits

D EM ER I M ER I T TS S

Longer distance can be covered Requires no fuel Faster than a chemical rocket Don't work well in low Earth orbit below about 800km altitude due to erosion or air drag. Sails have to be physically large Payload size is often small. Difficult to carry manned missions

CONCLUSIONS

S o l r sa i ch n o l g yw i le ve n tu a l y p l y a ke y a lte o l l a ro l i l n g -d i n ce N A S A m i o n s e n o sta ssi E xp l ra ti n o f sp a ce i si i a r to th e ta l o f th e o o s m l e " Tortoise and the Hare ," with rocket -propelled sp a ce cra ft b e i g th e h a re . n i th i ra ce , th e ro cke t-p ro p e l e d sp a ce cra ft w i l n s l l q u i y j m p o u t, m o vi g q u i y to w a rd i ckl u n ckl ts d e sti a ti n . n o O n th e o th e r h a n d , a ro cke t l ss sp a ce cra ft e p o w e re d b y a so l r sa i o u l b e g i i a lw d n ts j u rn e y a t a sl w b u t ste a d y p a ce , g ra d u a l y o o l p i n g u p sp e e d cki

R EFER EN CES

NanoSail-D: A solar sail demonstration mission by Les Johnson, MarkWhorton , AndyHeaton , RobinPinson , GregLaue , CharlesAdams Acta Astronautica 68 (2011) 571575 Overview of Advanced Space Propulsion via Solar Photon Sailing by Giovanni Vulpetti, International Academy of Astronautics www.solarsails.org www.nasa.gov www.solarscience.co www.nanosail.org