Attitude Dynamics and Control for a Solar Sail with Individually Controllable Elements

Attitude and Orbital Dynamics of a Variable-Geometry, Spinning Solar Sail in Earth Orbit

There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it.

Attitude Stability and Altitude Control of a Variable- Geometry Earth-Orbiting Solar Sail

Coupled Attitude-Orbit Dynamics and Control for an Electric Sail in a Heliocentric Transfer Mission

The paper discusses the coupled attitude-orbit dynamics and control of an electric-sail-based spacecraft in a heliocentric transfer mission. The mathematical model characterizing the propulsive thrust is first described as a function of the orbital radius and the sail angle. Since the solar wind dynamic pressure acceleration is induced by the sail attitude, the orbital and attitude dynamics of ...

Design and Simulation of Sailcraft Attitude Control Systems Using the Solar Sail Control Toolbox

A MATLAB-based software tool, called the Solar Sail Control Toolbox, has been developed for solar sail analysis, design and simulation. The toolbox includes functions for multibody dynamic modeling, attitude control systems design, thrust vector control design, orbit analysis, solar sail mission analysis, thermal analysis and power subsystem analysis. Sailcraft models can be created, analyzed a...

Flexible Models for Solar Sail Control

Solar sails employ a unique form of propulsion, gaining momentum from incident and reflected photons. However, the momentum transferred by an individual photon is extremely small. Consequently, a solar sail must have an extremely large surface area and also be extremely light. The flexibility of the sail then must be considered when designing or evaluating control laws. In this paper, solar sai...