A three-axis solar sail attitude control system for interplanetary missions is proposed: required steering is achieved by means of a small control mass in the solar sail plane, whereas roll-axis control is achieved through the rotation of ballast with two masses at the extremities. The satellite is fixed at the sail geometrical centre: this solution avoids the difficulties arising from the employment of an out-of-plane control boom with the satellite at the end, i.e. pointing problems for optical payloads and communication antennas. A circular sailcraft of 220 kg with characteristic acceleration a(c) = 0.5 mm/s(2) is considered, and the control system performances are presented in terms of pointing accuracy for a rendezvous mission to Mercury. The dynamical model takes into account the perturbation torque because of an offset between the centre of pressure and the geometrical sail centre, as well as the Sun gravity-gradient effect and a perturbation torque on the roll axis.

Solar sail attitude control through in-plane moving masses / A., Bolle; Circi, Christian. - In: PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. PART G, JOURNAL OF AEROSPACE ENGINEERING. - ISSN 0954-4100. - STAMPA. - 222:1(2008), pp. 81-94. [10.1243/09544100jaero223]

Solar sail attitude control through in-plane moving masses

CIRCI, Christian
2008

Abstract

A three-axis solar sail attitude control system for interplanetary missions is proposed: required steering is achieved by means of a small control mass in the solar sail plane, whereas roll-axis control is achieved through the rotation of ballast with two masses at the extremities. The satellite is fixed at the sail geometrical centre: this solution avoids the difficulties arising from the employment of an out-of-plane control boom with the satellite at the end, i.e. pointing problems for optical payloads and communication antennas. A circular sailcraft of 220 kg with characteristic acceleration a(c) = 0.5 mm/s(2) is considered, and the control system performances are presented in terms of pointing accuracy for a rendezvous mission to Mercury. The dynamical model takes into account the perturbation torque because of an offset between the centre of pressure and the geometrical sail centre, as well as the Sun gravity-gradient effect and a perturbation torque on the roll axis.
2008
attitude control; interplanetary missions; solar sail
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Solar sail attitude control through in-plane moving masses / A., Bolle; Circi, Christian. - In: PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. PART G, JOURNAL OF AEROSPACE ENGINEERING. - ISSN 0954-4100. - STAMPA. - 222:1(2008), pp. 81-94. [10.1243/09544100jaero223]
File allegati a questo prodotto
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/337604
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 31
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 22
social impact