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Classification of solar sail attitude dynamics with and without angular momentum

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A Correction to this article was published on 11 February 2022

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Abstract

This paper describes attitude dynamics properties of spinning, momentum-biased and zero-momentum solar sail spacecraft. The model called “Generalized Sail Dynamics Model” (GSDM) is introduced, which can deal with general and practical sail configurations, such as arbitrary optical property distribution, shape and surface wrinkles. Attitude stability criteria and other key dynamical characteristics are derived and compared by compact analytical equations induced from the GSDM. The newly derived zero-momentum sail dynamics is compared with that of spinning and momentum-biased sails. It is shown that the spinning and momentum sails have an advantage in terms of dynamical stability whereas zero-momentum sails are only statically stable. With this special property, angular momentum-stabilized sails can realize a sun-pointing stable attitude with almost zero-fuel, which are discussed with actual space flight experience of the JAXA’s two interplanetary missions, IKAROS and Hayabusa2.

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Abbreviations

AU :

solar distance of spacecraft in astronomical unit (au)

A, B, C :

sail optical property parameters for spinning sail craft (Nm)

A, dA :

area and infinitesimal area of sail (m2)

B f :

non-Lambertian coefficient of the sail front (−)

C i, h z0, ωz0 :

integral constants, (i = 1, 2, ⋯)

C abs :

absorption coefficient (−)

C dif :

diffusive coefficient (−)

C spe :

specular coefficient (−)

D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L :

sail optical property parameters for non-spinning sail craft (Nm)

I = diag(I xx, I yy, I zz):

diagonal moment of inertial (MOI) of spacecraft (kgm2)

S 0 :

solar flux at 1 astronomical unit (≈1366W/m2)

T = [T x T y T z]T :

SRP-induced torque (Nm)

T n1, T n2, T s :

SRP-induced torque elements (Nm)

ā :

time average of variable a over the spin period

c :

speed of light (≈2.998×108m/s)

cψ, sψ :

cosψ, sinψ

h = [h x h y h z]T :

internal angular momentum of spacecraft (Nms)

n = [n x n y n z]T :

surface-normal unit vector of the sail (−)

p n1, p n2, p s :

solar radiation pressure (SRP) elements (N/m2)

r = [x y z]T = (r, φ, z):

position vector and its element in cartesian and polar coordinates (m)

s :

spacecraft-to-sun unit directional vector (−)

t :

time (s)

x B, y B, z B :

spacecraft body-fixed frame

x I, y I, z I :

inertial reference frame

x SRP, y SRP, z SRP :

center of pressure of SRP w.r.t. center of mass of spacecraft (m)

α, δ :

right ascension and declination of attitude direction (rad)

α eq, δ eq :

right ascension and declination of attitude equilibrium (rad)

α s, δ s :

right ascension and declination of sun direction (rad)

κ :

thermal emissivity (−)

ψ :

phase angle of spacecraft attitude about zB axis (rad)

ω :

angular velocity of spacecraft (rad/s)

References

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Nos JP26289325, JP18H01628).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, 252-5210, Japan

    Yuichi Tsuda & Yuya Mimasu

  2. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, 252-5210, Japan

    Go Ono

Authors
  1. Yuichi Tsuda
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  2. Go Ono
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  3. Yuya Mimasu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuichi Tsuda.

Additional information

This paper is based on Presentation No.17078 at the 4th International Solar Sail Symposium [1] with some additional discussions and up-to-date information.

Yuichi Tsuda received his Ph.D. degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Tokyo in 2003, and joined JAXA in 2003 as a research associate. He was a visiting scholar of Dept. of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan and Dept. of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder in 2008 and 2009. He was a deputy lead of the IKAROS project, the world’s first interplanetary solar sail mission. He is currently an associate professor of ISAS/JAXA and is also the project manager of the Hayabusa2, an asteroid sample-return mission. His research interests are astrodynamics, spacecraft system and deep space exploration.

Go Ono is a researcher at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). He graduated with a master degree of engineering from the University of Bath in 2011, and with a Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2014. He has entered JAXA in 2015, and has been working on guidance, navigation and control systems of JAXA’s deep space missions such as Hayabusa2 and MMX. His current research interests are astrodynamics and deep space exploration.

Yuya Mimasu is a researcher at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). He graduated with a Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from the Kyushu University in 2011. He has entered JAXA in 2011, and has been working on guidance, navigation and control subsystem of Hayabusa2 mission which is JAXA’s sample return mission from the asteroid. His research interests are astrodynamics and mission analysis around the small body such as an asteroid.

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Tsuda, Y., Ono, G. & Mimasu, Y. Classification of solar sail attitude dynamics with and without angular momentum. Astrodyn 3, 207–216 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-018-0045-6

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