TY  - CHAP
A1  - Schoutetens, Frederic
A1  - Dachwald, Bernd
A1  - Heiligers, Jeannette
T1  - Optimisation of photon-sail trajectories in the alpha-centauri system using evolutionary neurocontrol
T2  - 8th ICATT (International Conference on Astrodynamics Tools and Techniques) 23 - 25 June 2021, Virtual
N2  - With the increased interest for interstellar exploration after the discovery of exoplanets and the proposal by Breakthrough Starshot, this paper investigates the optimisation of photon-sail trajectories in Alpha Centauri. The prime objective is to find the optimal steering strategy for a photonic sail to get captured around one of the stars after a minimum-time transfer from Earth. By extending the idea of the Breakthrough Starshot project with a deceleration phase upon arrival, the mission’s scientific yield will be increased. As a secondary objective, transfer trajectories between the stars and orbit-raising manoeuvres to explore the habitable zones of the stars are investigated. All trajectories are optimised for minimum time of flight using the trajectory optimisation software InTrance. Depending on the sail technology, interstellar travel times of 77.6-18,790 years can be achieved, which presents an average improvement of 30% with respect to previous work. Still, significant technological development is required to reach and be captured in the Alpha-Centauri system in less than a century. Therefore, a fly-through mission arguably remains the only option for a first exploratory mission to Alpha Centauri, but the enticing results obtained in this work provide perspective for future long-residence missions to our closest neighbouring star system.
Y1  - 2021
N1  - 8th ICATT (International Conference on Astrodynamics Tools and Techniques)
23 - 25 June 2021, Virtual
SP  - 1
EP  - 15
ER  - 
TY  - CHAP
A1  - Grundmann, Jan Thimo
A1  - Bauer, Waldemar
A1  - Boden, Ralf
A1  - Ceriotti, Matteo
A1  - Chand, Suditi
A1  - Cordero, Federico
A1  - Dachwald, Bernd
A1  - Dumont, Etienne
A1  - Grimm, Christian D.
A1  - Heiligers, Jeannette
A1  - Herčík, David
A1  - Hérique, Alain
A1  - Ho, Tra-Mi
A1  - Jahnke, Rico
A1  - Kofman, Wlodek
A1  - Lange, Caroline
A1  - Lichtenheldt, Roy
A1  - McInnes, Colin
A1  - Meß, Jan-Gerd
A1  - Mikschl, Tobias
A1  - Mikulz, Eugen
A1  - Montenegro, Sergio
A1  - Moore, Iain
A1  - Pelivan, Ivanka
A1  - Peloni, Alessandro
A1  - Plettemeier, Dirk
A1  - Quantius, Dominik
A1  - Reershemius, Siebo
A1  - Renger, Thomas
A1  - Riemann, Johannes
A1  - Rogez, Yves
A1  - Ruffer, Michael
A1  - Sasaki, Kaname
A1  - Schmitz, Nicole
A1  - Seboldt, Wolfgang
A1  - Seefeldt, Patric
A1  - Spietz, Peter
A1  - Spröwitz, Tom
A1  - Sznajder, Maciej
A1  - Tóth, Norbert
A1  - Vergaaij, Merel
A1  - Viavattene, Giulia
A1  - Wejmo, Elisabet
A1  - Wiedemann, Carsten
A1  - Wolff, Friederike
A1  - Ziach, Christian
T1  - Flights are ten a sail – Re-use and commonality in the design and system engineering of small spacecraft solar sail missions with modular hardware for responsive and adaptive exploration
T2  - 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC)
KW  - system engineering
KW  - small solar system body characterisation
KW  - small spacecraft solar sail
KW  - small spacecraft asteroid lander
KW  - responsive space
Y1  - 2019
SN  - 9781713814856
N1  - 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Washington D.C., United States, 21-25 October 2019
SP  - 1
EP  - 7
ER  -