Analysis of interplanetary solar sail trajectories with attitude dynamics

  • We present a new approach to the problem of optimal control of solar sails for low-thrust trajectory optimization. The objective was to find the required control torque magnitudes in order to steer a solar sail in interplanetary space. A new steering strategy, controlling the solar sail with generic torques applied about the spacecraft body axes, is integrated into the existing low-thrust trajectory optimization software InTrance. This software combines artificial neural networks and evolutionary algorithms to find steering strategies close to the global optimum without an initial guess. Furthermore, we implement a three rotational degree-of-freedom rigid-body attitude dynamics model to represent the solar sail in space. Two interplanetary transfers to Mars and Neptune are chosen to represent typical future solar sail mission scenarios. The results found with the new steering strategy are compared to the existing reference trajectories without attitude dynamics. The resulting control torques required to accomplish the missions are investigated, as they pose the primary requirements to a real on-board attitude control system.

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Metadaten
Author:Andreas Borggrafe, Andreas Ohndorf, Bernd DachwaldORCiD, Wolfgang Seboldt
ISBN:978-0-87703-587-9
Parent Title (English):Dynamics and Control of Space Systems 2012
Publisher:Univelt Inc
Place of publication:San Diego
Document Type:Part of a Book
Language:English
Year of Completion:2012
First Page:1553
Last Page:1569
Link:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/46642/1/Borggrafe_A_et_al_Pure_Analysis_of_interplanetary_solar_sail_trajectories_with_attitude_dynamics_2012.pdf
Zugriffsart:bezahl
Institutes:FH Aachen / Fachbereich Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik
FH Aachen / IfB - Institut für Bioengineering
collections:Verlag / Univelt Inc