A scalable bus-based attitude control system for Solar Sails Original Research Article

Recently, there has been a renewed interest in Solar Sails as an alternative means of space propulsion. Many different attitude control systems have been designed for Solar Sails taking advantage of the centre-of-mass (CM)/centre-of-pressure (CP) offset while utilising the main sail structure to position the actuators. However, by attaching actuators to the main sail, these systems increase the risks involved in the deployment subsystem. In this paper we propose an attitude control system (ACS) decoupled from the main sail booms and attached to the spacecraft bus. We use ballast masses to change the CM and highly reflective panels to change the CP, achieving 3-axis control. As a result of the decoupled nature of the ACS, scalability and simplicity can be achieved. This is shown through sizing and simulation of the ACS for three different sail sizes, the 5 m Cubesail, 40 m GeoSail and 245 m interstellar heliopause probe (IHP). The scalable bus-based ACS decreases the risks and complexity involved in the design of the sail deployment subsystem and can be employed alongside any available sail deployment mechanisms.