Title :
New concept of high speed AB solar sail
Author :
Bolonkin, Alexander
Author_Institution :
C & R Aerosp., Brooklyn, NY
Abstract :
The solar sail is a large thin film used to collect solar light pressure for moving of space apparatus. Unfortunately, the solar radiation pressure is very small about 9 muN/mm at Earth´s orbit. However, the light force significantly increases up to 0.2-0.35 N/mm near the Sun. The author offers his research on a new revolutionary highly reflective solar sail which performs a flyby (after special maneuver) near the Sun and attains velocities up to 400 km/s and reaches far planets of the Solar system in a short time or enables flights out of the Solar system. New, highly reflective sail mirror allows avoiding the strong heating of the solar sail. It may be useful for probes close to the Sun and Mercury and Venus.
Keywords :
aerospace materials; aerospace propulsion; optical films; radiation pressure; solar radiation; flyby maneuver; high speed AB solar sail; reflective sail mirror; reflective solar sail; solar light pressure; space apparatus; thin film; Earth; Mirrors; Planets; Probes; Solar heating; Solar radiation; Solar system; Sun; Transistors; Venus;
Journal_Title :
Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TAES.2008.4667728