The recent findings of exoplanets have renewed interest in exploration missions of extra-solar star systems. In this context the binary star system of Alpha Centauri A/B plays a scientifically important role. The current paper aims at investigating the capture and the transfer trajectories from A to B performed by a stellar-photon sailcraft, which gives the best performance in long duration missions. The mission has been divided into four phases and minimum transfer time trajectories have been obtained by using a direct optimisation approach. Finally, a preliminary analysis in terms of Zero Velocity Curves has been carried out.

A star-photon sailcraft mission in the Alpha Centauri system / Pino, Tommaso; Circi, Christian. - In: ADVANCES IN SPACE RESEARCH. - ISSN 0273-1177. - STAMPA. - 59:9(2017), pp. 2389-2397. [10.1016/j.asr.2017.02.014]

A star-photon sailcraft mission in the Alpha Centauri system

PINO, TOMMASO;CIRCI, Christian
2017

Abstract

The recent findings of exoplanets have renewed interest in exploration missions of extra-solar star systems. In this context the binary star system of Alpha Centauri A/B plays a scientifically important role. The current paper aims at investigating the capture and the transfer trajectories from A to B performed by a stellar-photon sailcraft, which gives the best performance in long duration missions. The mission has been divided into four phases and minimum transfer time trajectories have been obtained by using a direct optimisation approach. Finally, a preliminary analysis in terms of Zero Velocity Curves has been carried out.
2017
Elliptical three body problem; Alpha Centauri system exploration; Solar sail
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
A star-photon sailcraft mission in the Alpha Centauri system / Pino, Tommaso; Circi, Christian. - In: ADVANCES IN SPACE RESEARCH. - ISSN 0273-1177. - STAMPA. - 59:9(2017), pp. 2389-2397. [10.1016/j.asr.2017.02.014]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/953919
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