SOLAR
SAIL
Presented by
ed by DHEERAJ MURALI
M A , 7316
INTRODUCTION
400 years back Johannes Kepler
proposed the idea
A spacecraft without an engine
Pushed along directly by light from
the Sun
Reflects light off giant mirror-like
sails
Doesn’t need fuel, so weight is
reduced
Keeps accelerating over almost
WORKING
Lig h t is m a d e u p o f
p a cke ts o f e n e rg y
kn o w n as
“ photons ”
In cid e n t ra ys of
su n lig h t re fle ct o ff
th e so la r sa il a t a n
a n g le
C hange in
m o m e n tu m
Two components of force
i. In the direction of the incident sunlight
ii. In a direction normal to the incident
rays
Components tangent to the sail surface cancel out
Components normal to the surface add up to produce
the thrust normal to the sail surface
Reflected photons energy flux = energy flux prior
to the interaction, but a different momentum
vector
This altered momentum vector that gives the ship
an accelerating force
WHY SOLAR SAILS ?
A Sail of 1 sq km are would only feel about 9
Newtons
Normal space shuttle main engine produce
Ø 1.67 million N of force during liftoff
Ø 2.1 million N of thrust in a vacuum
How Solar sail is effective
i. no noticeable friction
ii.space is very empty and clean so
there is plenty of room
iii.Continuous supply of energy
DISTANCE v/s TIME
40 Au in 6 years
Distance from sun to Pluto
= 32 . 1 AU
NASA ’ s New Horizon mission
= 10 yrs
SECTION A
SECTION A :- DETAILS
Initial acceleration
low
Due to effect of
gravity and low
pressure increase
rate
C O M P A R IT IV E S T U D Y
In 100 days, a sail-propelled craft could
reach 14,000 kilometres per hour
In just three years, a solar sail could reach
over 150,000 miles per hour.
At that speed, you could reach Pluto in less
than five years
Far away from the Sun, the highly focused
beams of lasers can be directed at the
sails to boost them onto interstellar
trajectories.
COMPONENTS
There are three components to a solar sail-
powered spacecraft
i. Continuous force exerted by
sunlight
ii.A large, ultrathin mirror
iii.A separate launch vehicle
Ultra thin mirror :- large flat smooth sheets
of very thin film, supported by ultra-
lightweight structures
Side of film which faces the sun is coated
with a highly reflective material
Some times reinforcement are also
SAIL DESIGNS
vHeliogyro
Plastic-film blades deployed from rollers
Film held out by centrifugal forces
No mass advantage over a square sail
Attractive because the method of
deploying the sail is simpler than a Square
sail.
Spinning Disk Sail (Ring sails)
a)Panels are
attached to the edge of a rotating
spacecraft
have slight gaps, about 1% - 5% of the
total area
b)Lines would connect the edges of sails
c) Weights in the middles of these lines would
pull the sails taut
S A IL D E P L O Y M E N T
BOOM STRUCTURE
COILED BOOM UNCOILED BOOM
SAIL MATERIALS
Essential Qualities
i. Lightweight
ii. Highly reflective
iii.Tolerate extreme
temperatures
Materials
a) Aluminium
b)Titanium
c)Nickel
d)Silicon Monoxide
A L U M IN IU M
High reflectivity, low density, a reasonable
melting point, and a very low vapour
pressure
Doesn’t agglomerate due to formation of an
oxide layer on the aluminium
Creep is a factor of concern
Aluminium films of the minimum thickness
required for reflectivity may
i. Prove too weak to support the stresses
imposed during fabrication
ii.Creep under load at elevated
S tre n g th e n e d b y a d d in g a re in fo rcin g
film o f a stro n g e r , m o re re fra cto ry
m a te ria l.
G o o d re in fo rcin g film fe a tu re s : S tro n g ,
Lig h t, a n d E a sy to d e p o sit
N o n e e d n o t fo r ch e m ica l co m p a tib ility
w ith a lu m in iu m
M e ta ls, su ch a s n icke l, m a y re fle ct w e ll
a n d a lso p ro vid e re in fo rce m e n t
Titanium and Nickel
Films of pure titanium from 150 to 2,000
TITANIU
nm thick were found to have strengths
of 460 to 620 Npa
Titanium has enough strength and
temperature tolerance to make it an
M
attractive choice as a reinforcing film.`
NICKE
Strength of nickel film exceeds 2,000 NPa
at a thickness of 70 nanometers.
L
Nickel’s density is a disadvantage for use
in sails
Silicon Monoxide and Boron
Satellite thermal control coatings
SiO2
Refractory, Low density, High strength in
extremely thin film form
Reinforcing film material
Strength of 620 MPa
BORON
Can be made as thin as 4 nanometres
CASE STUDY :
NANOSAIL-D
Nano satellite - or Cubesat
Designed to test the
potential for solar sails
in atmospheric braking
Used an ultra-thin and
light polymer named
CP1
Deployed in low-Earth
orbit, about 650 km
Launched by Falcon-1
launch vehicle in August
2008
Immediately after ejection today, a timer
started a three-day countdown.
On reaching zero count , all four booms
will spring out from the small satellite,
and within five seconds the sail will be
fully extended
Final size of 100 square foot (10 square
meter) sail-span.
APPLICATIONS
Solar weather stations
Monitoring the
geomagnetic storms
Launching small
satellites
Remote sensing
Probes to end of Milky
way
Search for extra
terrestrial life
Merits and Demerits
Longer distance can be covered
D E M E R I M E R IT
Requires no fuel
S
Faster than a chemical rocket
Don't work well in low Earth orbit below
about 800 km altitude due to erosion
or air drag.
TS
Sails have to be physically large
Payload size is often small.
Difficult to carry manned missions
CONCLUSIONS
S o la r sa ilte ch n o lo g y w ille ve n tu a lly p la y a ke y
ro le in lo n g -d ista n ce N A S A m issio n s
E xp lo ra tio n o f sp a ce is sim ila r to th e ta le o f th e
" Tortoise and the Hare ," with rocket -propelled
sp a ce cra ft b e in g th e h a re .
in th is ra ce , th e ro cke t-p ro p e lle d sp a ce cra ft w ill
q u ickly ju m p o u t, m o vin g q u ickly to w a rd its
d e stin a tio n .
O n th e o th e r h a n d , a ro cke t le ss sp a ce cra ft
p o w e re d b y a so la r sa ilw o u ld b e g in its
jo u rn e y a t a slo w b u t ste a d y p a ce , g ra d u a lly
p ickin g u p sp e e d
R EFER EN CES
NanoSail-D: A solar sail demonstration mission by Les
Johnson, MarkWhorton , AndyHeaton , RobinPinson ,
GregLaue , CharlesAdams Acta Astronautica 68 (2011)
571–575
Overview of Advanced Space Propulsion via Solar Photon
Sailing by Giovanni Vulpetti, International Academy of
Astronautics
www.solarsails.org
www.nasa.gov
www.solarscience.co
www.nanosail.org
