Gregory L Matloff | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Phobos/Deimos sample return via solar sail.

A sample-return mission to the Martian satellites using a con-temporary solar sail for all post-Earth-escape propulsion is proposed. The 0.015 kg/m(2) areal mass-thickness sail unfurls after launch and injection onto a Mars-bound Hohmann-transfer ellipse. Structure and payload increase spacecraft areal mass thickness to 0.028 kg/m(2). During the Mars encounter, the sail functions as a parachute in the outer atmosphere of Mars to accomplish aerocapture. On-board thrusters or the sail maneuver the spacecraft into an orbit with periapsis near Mars and apoapsis near Phobos. The orbit is circularized for Phobos-rendezvous; surface samples are collected. The sail then raises the orbit for Deimos-rendezvous and sample collection. The sail next places the spacecraft on an Earth-bound Hohmann-transfer ellipse. During Earth encounter, the sail accomplishes Earth-aerocapture or partially decelerates the sample container for entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Mission mass budget is about 218 grams and mission duration is less than five years.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

The solar photon thruster as a terrestrial pole sitter.

Geosynchronous satellites are invisible at high latitudes. A pole-sitting spacecraft would have communication, climate-studies, and near-polar Earth observation applications. We present a pole-sitter based on the solar photon thruster (SPT), a two-sail variant of the solar sail using a large curved collector sail (always normal to the Sun) to direct sunlight against a much smaller thruster. Thrust decreases slower for an SPT than for a conventional sail arrangement as the angle between sunlight and the collector normal increases. An SPT pole-sitter is offset from the terrestrial pole so that a component of Earth gravity balances the solar radiation-pressure component pushing the SPT off station. The component of gravitational attraction of the Earth pulling the spacecraft towards Earth is also balanced by a solar radiation-pressure component. Results are presented for 80-100% collector/thruster reflectivities. For a spacecraft areal mass thickness of 0.002 kg/m(2), collector and thruster reflectivities of 0.9, the SPT can be situated above latitude 45 degrees at a distance of approximately 60 Earth radii. An SPT pole sitter would be affected by lunar perturbation, which can be compensated for by an on-board rocket thruster producing 2 x 10(-6) g acceleration, a second SPT thruster sail thrusting against the influence of the Moon, or by directing a microwave beam against the spacecraft. Since an SPT pole sitter is in a position rather than an orbit, the effect of terrestrial gravitation limits the size and design of the payload package, which limits terrestrial target resolution.

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