@inproceedings{SeboldtDachwald2003,
  author    = {Seboldt, Wolfgang and Dachwald, Bernd},
  title     = {Solar sails for near-term advanced scientific deep space missions},
  series = {Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Combustion and Propulsion},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Combustion and Propulsion},
  pages     = {14 Seiten},
  year      = {2003},
  abstract  = {Solar sails are propelled in space by reflecting solar photons off large mirroring surfaces, thereby transforming the momentum of the photons into a propulsive force. This innovative concept for low-thrust space propulsion works without any propellant and thus provides a wide range of opportunities for highenergy low-cost missions. Offering an efficient way of propulsion, solar sailcraft could close a gap in transportation options for highly demanding exploration missions within our solar system and even beyond. On December 17th, 1999, a significant step was made towards the realization of this technology: a lightweight solar sail structure with an area of 20 m × 20 m was successfully deployed on ground in a large facility at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) at Cologne. The deployment from a package of 60 cm × 60 cm × 65 cm with a total mass of less than 35 kg was achieved using four extremely light-weight carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) booms with a specific mass of 100 g/m. The paper briefly reviews the basic principles of solar sails as well as the technical concept and its realization in the ground demonstration experiment, performed in close cooperation between DLR and ESA. Next possible steps are outlined. They could comprise the in-orbit demonstration of the sail deployment on the upper stage of a low-cost rocket and the verification of the propulsion concept by an autonomous and free flying solar sail in the frame of a scientific mission. It is expected that the present design could be extended to sail sizes of about (40 m)2 up to even (70 m)2 without significant mass penalty. With these areas, the maximum achievable thrust at 1 AU would range between 10 and 40 mN - comparable to some electric thrusters. Such prototype sails with a mass between 50 and 150 kg plus a micro-spacecraft of 50 to 250 kg would have a maximum acceleration in the order of 0.1 mm/s2 at 1 AU, corresponding to a maximum ∆V-capability of about 3 km/s per year. Two near/medium-term mission examples to a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) will be discussed: a rendezvous mission and a sample return mission.},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{DachwaldSeboldtHaeusler2002,
  author    = {Dachwald, Bernd and Seboldt, Wolfgang and H{\"a}usler, Bernd},
  title     = {Performance requirements for near-term interplanetary solar sailcraft missions},
  series = {6th International AAAF Symposium on Space Propulsion: Propulsion for Space Transportation of the XXIst Century},
  booktitle = {6th International AAAF Symposium on Space Propulsion: Propulsion for Space Transportation of the XXIst Century},
  pages     = {9 Seiten},
  year      = {2002},
  abstract  = {Solar sailcraft provide a wide range of opportunities for high-energy low-cost missions. To date, most mission studies require a rather demanding performance that will not be realized by solar sailcraft of the first generation. However, even with solar sailcraft of moderate performance, scientifically relevant missions are feasible. This is demonstrated with a Near Earth Asteroid sample return mission and various planetary rendezvous missions.},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{SpurmannOhndorfDachwaldetal.2009,
  author    = {Spurmann, J{\"o}rn and Ohndorf, Andreas and Dachwald, Bernd and Seboldt, Wolfgang and L{\"o}b, Horst and Schartner, Karl-Heinz},
  title     = {Interplanetary trajectory optimization for a sep mission to Saturn},
  series = {60th International Astronautical Congress 2009},
  booktitle = {60th International Astronautical Congress 2009},
  isbn      = {9781615679089},
  pages     = {5234 -- 5248},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {The recently proposed NASA and ESA missions to Saturn and Jupiter pose difficult tasks to mission designers because chemical propulsion scenarios are not capable of transferring heavy spacecraft into the outer solar system without the use of gravity assists. Thus our developed mission scenario based on the joint NASA/ESA Titan Saturn System Mission baselines solar electric propulsion to improve mission flexibility and transfer time. For the calculation of near-globally optimal low-thrust trajectories, we have used a method called Evolutionary Neurocontrol, which is implemented in the low-thrust trajectory optimization software InTrance. The studied solar electric propulsion scenario covers trajectory optimization of the interplanetary transfer including variations of the spacecraft's thrust level, the thrust unit's specific impulse and the solar power generator power level. Additionally developed software extensions enabled trajectory optimization with launcher-provided hyperbolic excess energy, a complex solar power generator model and a variable specific impulse ion engine model. For the investigated mission scenario, Evolutionary Neurocontrol yields good optimization results, which also hold valid for the more elaborate spacecraft models. Compared to Cassini/Huygens, the best found solutions have faster transfer times and a higher mission flexibility in general.},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{LoebSchartnerDachwaldetal.2007,
  author    = {Loeb, Horst Wolfgang and Schartner, Karl-Heinz and Dachwald, Bernd and Seboldt, Wolfgang},
  title     = {SEP-Sample return from a main belt asteroid},
  series = {30th International Electric Propulsion Conference},
  booktitle = {30th International Electric Propulsion Conference},
  pages     = {1 -- 11},
  year      = {2007},
  abstract  = {By DLR-contact, sample return missions to the large main-belt asteroid "19, Fortuna" have been studied. The mission scenario has been based on three ion thrusters of the RIT-22 model, which is presently under space qualification, and on solar arrays equipped with triple-junction GaAs solar cells. After having designed the spacecraft, the orbit-to-orbit trajectories for both, a one-way SEP mission with a chemical sample return and an all-SEP return mission, have been optimized using a combination of artificial neural networks with evolutionary algorithms. Additionally, body-to-body trajectories have been investigated within a launch period between 2012 and 2015. For orbit-to-orbit calculation, the launch masses of the hybrid mission and of the all-SEP mission resulted in 2.05 tons and 1.56 tons, respectively, including a scientific payload of 246 kg. For the related transfer durations 4.14 yrs and 4.62 yrs were obtained. Finally, a comparison between the mission scenarios based on SEP and on NEP have been carried out favouring clearly SEP.},
  language  = {en}
}