Seminar Report On Solar Sails

A
SEMINAR REPORT
ON
SOLAR SAILS
Submitted for the Partial Fulfilment of

Requirements for the Award of Degree of
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
In
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Guided by: Submitted by:

Prof. (Dr.) A. R. Garg Ansal Gupta
Professor and Supervisor (Enroll. No.-14R/00001)
(Roll No.-15EEL54005)
Department of Electrical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering & Architecture
(M. B. M. Engineering College)
J. N. V. University, Jodhpur
DECLARATION
This is to declare that the seminar report entitled “Solar Sails” is submitted
for the partial fulfilment of the requirements of degree of Bachelor of Engineering
in Electrical Engineering from Electrical Engineering department, M.B.M.
Engineering College, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur is a record of the
seminar work carried out by me under the supervision of Dr. A. R. Garg Sir. To
the best of my knowledge, this seminar report has not been submitted earlier for
the award of any degree/diploma by me or any other student.
Ansal Gupta
B.E. Final Year (VII SEM)
Enrolment No: 14R/00001
Roll No: 15EEL54005
This is to certify that the declaration of the student is correct to the best of
my knowledge.
Guided by
Countersigned by (Dr. A. R. Garg)

Professor
(Dr. (Mrs.) Jayashri Vajpai)
Professor & Head
Date:

M. B. M. Engineering College
2017-18
i|Page
UUU CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the seminar report entitled “Solar Sails” is being
submitted by Mr. Ansal Gupta for the partial fulfilment of requirement for the
award degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering is a record of
his own work carried out by him under my supervision and guidance the
department of Electrical Engineering, M. B. M. Engineering College, Jai Narain
Vyas University, Jodhpur.
Guided by
Countersigned by (Dr. A. R. Garg)
Professor
(Dr. (Mrs.) Jayashri Vajpai)
Professor & Head

Date:

M. B. M. Engineering College
2017-18
ii | P a g e
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is my proud privilege and duty to acknowledge the kind of help and

guidance received from several people in preparation of this report. It would not
have been possible to prepare this report in this form without their valuable help,
cooperation and guidance.
First and foremost, I wish to record my sincere gratitude to my supervisor
Dr. A. R. Garg Sir (Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, M .B. M.
Engineering College, Jodhpur) for his constant support, excellent guidance and
encouragement. I also thank him for his insightful comments and suggestions
which helped me improve my understanding.
I am also very much obliged to Dr. (Mrs.) Jayashri Vajpai Ma’am
(Newly appointed Head of Department of Electrical Engineering, M. B. M.
Engineering College, Jodhpur) and Prof. Avdhesh Sharma Sir (previous H.O.D.
of Electrical Engg., MBM Engg. College, Jodhpur) for creating such great
environment at our department. I would also like to thank entire teaching and
non-teaching staff of Electrical Engineering Department for their support and
well wishes.
My whole hearted gratitude to my parents and my sister for their constant
encouragement, love, wishes and support. I would also like to thank each and
every person who directly or indirectly helped me for this work. Last but not the
least I would like to thank M. B. M. for all those precious memories, knowledge,
experience which I have gained and will remember my entire life.
Ansal Gupta
B.E. Final Year (VII SEM)
Enrolment No: 14R/00001
Roll No: 15EEL54005
iii | P a g e
ABSTRACT
Hundreds of space missions have been launched since the last lunar mission,
including several deep space probes that have been sent to the edges of our solar
system. However, our journeys to space have been limited by the power of
chemical rocket engines and the amount of rocket fuel that a spacecraft can
carry. Today, the weight of a space shuttle at launch is approximately 95
percent fuel. What could we accomplish if we could reduce our need for so
much fuel and the tanks that hold it?
International space agencies and some private corporations have proposed many
methods of transportation that would allow us to go farther, but a manned space
mission has yet to go beyond the moon. The most realistic of these space
transportation options calls for the elimination of both rocket fuel and rocket
engines -- replacing them with sails. Yes, that's right, sails.
NASA is one of the organizations that has been studying this amazing
technology called solar sails that will use the sun's power to send us into deep
space. This report shows you how the idea of solar sailing developed, where
NASA and others are in testing this technology and how far and fast solar sails
might take us in the universe.
Solar sails are probably one of the least explored methods of spacecraft
propulsion. They possess both significant advantages (no fuel, and cumulative
ΔV can be enormous) and major challenges; controlling such large, flexible
structures and the inability to overcome even small amounts of drag. The ion
engine represents the current state-of-the-art in high-efficiency propulsion, and
shares the solar sail’s very low thrust.[]
A solar sail is a spacecraft without a rocket engine. It is pushed along directly
by light particles from the Sun, reflecting off its giant sails. Because it carries no
fuel and keeps accelerating over almost unlimited distances, it is the only
technology now in existence that can one day take us to the stars. Solar-sail
spacecraft need only a conventional launch vehicle to get into Earth orbit, where
the solar sails can be deployed and the spacecraft sent on its way. Ultimately,
solar-sail technology will make interstellar flights and shuttling between planets
less expensive and therefore more practical than conventional chemical rockets.
(Bonsor) iv | P a g e
CONTENTS
Page No
Declaration i
Certificate ii
Acknowledgement iii
Abstract iv
Contents v
Chapter-01: Introduction 1
1.1: Introduction 1
1.2: Solar Sail History 3
1.3: Solar Sail Missions 3
Chapter-02: Solar Sail Concept 5
Chapter-03: Solar Sail Characteristics 8
Chapter-04: Types of Solar Sail 9

4.1: Square Sail 10
4.2: Heliogyro Sail 11
4.3: Disc Sail 12
Chapter-05: Working of Solar Sail 13

5.1: How does light push a solar sail? 15
5.2: Tacking of Solar Sails 15
5.3: Relativistic Navigation Needed in Solar Sails 18
Chapter-06: Sail Construction 20
v|Page
Chapter-07: Solar Sail Dynamics and Control 24
7.1: Cruising by Sunlight 26
Chapter-08: Solar Sail Materials 26

8.1: Aluminum as Solar Sail Material 29
8.1.1: Titanium as reinforcing material 31
8.1.2: Nickel as reinforcing material 32
8.1.3: Silicon Monoxide as reinforcing material 32
8.1.4: Boron as reinforcing material 32
Chapter-09: Solar Sail Launch 35
Chapter-10: Projects Operating or Completed 36

10.1 Attitude (orientation) control 36
10.2 Ground deployment tests 36
10.3 Suborbital tests 36
10.4 IKAROS 2010 37
10.5 NanoSail-D 2010 38
10.6 Planetary Society LightSail Projects 39
Chapter-11: Projects in development or proposed 40

11.1 Sunjammer 2015 40
11.2 Gossamer deorbit sail 40
11.3 NEA Scout 41
11.4 Jupiter Trojan Asteroid Explorer 42
11.5 Breakthrough Starshot 42
Chapter-12: Advantages 43
Chapter-13. Limitations of solar sails 45
vi | P a g e
Chapter-14: Misunderstandings 46
Chapter-15: Applications 48
15.1 Inner planets 48
15.2 Outer planets 49
15.3 Oort Cloud / Sun's inner gravity focus 49
15.4 Satellites 50
15.5 Trajectory Corrections 50
15.6 Interstellar flight 50
15.7 Deorbiting artificial satellites 51
Chapter-16: Future Space Travel 52
Chapter-17: Conclusion 54
References 57
vii | P a g e
1. INTRODUCTION
A solar sail is a large, lightweight mirror used to propel a spacecraft using
the pressure exerted by sunlight. In essence, it works like a sailboat. Whereas
a sailboat is propelled by deflecting the wind, a solar sail is propelled by
deflecting sunlight. Solar pressure is very weak - about 9 millionths of a Newton
(micro-Newtons) or 2 millionths of a pound (micro-pounds) of force on a square
meter at Earth's distance from the sun. This is far too little pressure to have any
effect on Earth, because other forces are much larger, like air drag and gravity
driving us into the ground. In space there is no air and objects fall freely under
the influence of gravity without the ground to constrain them.
Sunlight can have a significant effect on objects, depending on how lightweight

they are. Large and lightweight objects are affected more. Dust given off by
comets is pushed into brilliant tails millions of kilometers long. Sunlight causes
small errors to accumulate over time in spacecraft orbits and spin. Even asteroids
gradually change their spin over millions of years. This gentle force is enough for
a solar sail that is sufficiently large and light weight to travel between planets or
change the behavior of its orbit around a planet or the sun - without consuming
any propellant.
In order for sunlight to provide sufficient pressure to propel a spacecraft forward,

a solar sail must capture as much Sunlight as possible. This means that the surface
of the sail must be big – very big. Cosmos 1 is a small solar sail intended only for
a short mission. Nevertheless, once it spreads its sails even this small spacecraft
will be 10 stories tall, as high as the rocket that will launch it. Its eight triangular
blades are 15 meters (49 feet) in length, and have a total surface area of 600 square
meters (6500 square feet). This is about one and a half times the size of a
basketball court.
(http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php?title=Solar_Sailing_101) 1|Page
Figure 1. Fractionation of Solar Sails. (a) A NASA 20-m four-quadrant solar
sail fully deployed in testing. This solar sail is comprised of four smaller sails,
making the handling, deployment, and control of the finished product much more
manageable than a single, large sail of the same size. Image courtesy of NASA.
(b) A conceptual depiction of a particulate solar sail, where the sail material is
divided into much smaller components, further reducing the difficulties in
manufacturing and launching of the sail while offering increased robustness and
novel opportunities
Solar sail spacecraft
(http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php?title=Solar_Sailing_101) 2|Page
Solar sails will use the sun's energy to propel spacecraft.
PHOTO COURTESY THE PLANETARY SOCIETY
1.2Solar Sail History
The idea of “sailing” through space has been around for years. NASA considered
the use of solar sails in the 1970s as a potential propulsion system for performing
a rendezvous with Comet Halley during its 1986 flyby of Earth. Lightweight
technologies such as “sails” were not mature enough at that time and the mission
was deemed unfeasible. However, as more and more advances in design and con-
struction of the large solar sails and their hardware systems were made in the
1980s and 1990s, the viability of the technology increased.
Solar sail propulsion uses sunlight to propel vehicles through space, much the
way wind pushes sailboats across water. The technology uses solar photons—
sunlight—which are reflected off giant, mirror-like sails made of lightweight,
reflective material 40 to 100 times thinner than a piece of writing paper. The
continuous photonic pressure provides enough thrust to perform maneuvers, such
as hovering at a fixed point in space and rotating the space vehicle’s plane of
orbit, which would require too much propellant for conventional rocket systems.
(NASA, 2004) 3|Page

Because the Sun supplies the necessary propulsive energy, solar sails also require
no onboard propellant, thus reducing payload mass.
1.3 Solar Sail Missions
Solar sail propulsion is a leading candidate for missions that require a space
vehicle to complete a large variety of maneuvers, such as changing orbital
elements or orientation, hovering at a fixed point, or for missions that require
constant vehicle thrust to achieve science objectives. These propulsion
technology systems eventually could lead to missions to study the Sun and its
heliosphere the magnetized bubble of plasma around the Sun—that are
impossible using today’s technology.
engines -- replacing them with sails.
NASA is one of the organizations that has been studying this amazing
technology called solar sails that will use the sun's power to send us into deep
space.
Solar sail research is part of NASA’s In-Space Propulsion Technologies

Program, which is managed by the Science Mission Directorate in Washington
and implemented by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The
program’s objective is to develop in-space propulsion technologies that can
beneﬁt near and mid-term NASA space science missions by signiﬁcantly
reducing cost, mass and travel times.
(NASA, 2004) 4|Page

2. SOLAR SAIL CONCEPT
Nearly 400 years ago, as much of Europe was still involved in naval exploration
of the world, Johannes Kepler proposed the idea of exploring the galaxy using
sails. Through his observation that comet tails were blown around by some kind
of solar breeze, he believed sails could capture that wind to propel spacecraft
the way winds moved ships on the oceans. While Kepler's idea of a solar wind
has been disproven, scientists have since discovered that sunlight does exert
enough force to move objects. To take advantage of this force, NASA has been
experimenting with giant solar sails that could be pushed through the cosmos by
light.
There are three components to a solar sail-powered spacecraft:
 Continuous force exerted by sunlight

 A large, ultrathin mirror
 A separate launch vehicle
The fundamental principle of solar sailing is illustrated in Figure 3. If the

solar sail is a perfect reflector, the combined impulse of the incident and
reflected photons produce a resulting force on the solar sail that is nearly
normal to the plane of the sail. By orienting the sail such that the resulting force
opposes the motion of the spacecraft’s orbit, the sail causes the spacecraft to
lose orbital angular momentum and spiral inwards towards the attracting body.
On the other hand, if the resulting force vector is aligned such that the net force
is increasing the orbital angular momentum, the orbit’s energy grows, and the
spacecraft spirals out from the sun. Changing the angle of the sail’s surface
normal relative to the sun can thus actuate the solar sail’s orbit in a desired
manner
(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 5|Page

Figure 3. The Basic Principle Behind Solar Sailing.
(Google Images>Solar Sails) 6|Page

The reflective nature of the sails is key. As photons (light particles) bounce off
the reflective material, they gently push the sail along by transferring
momentum to the sail. Because there are so many photons from sunlight, and
because they are constantly hitting the sail, there is a constant pressure (force
per unit area) exerted on the sail that produces a constant acceleration of the
spacecraft. Although the force on a solar-sail spacecraft is less than a
conventional chemical rocket, such as the space shuttle, the solar-sail spacecraft
constantly accelerates over time and achieves a greater velocity.
A solar sail-powered spacecraft does not need traditional propellant for power,
because its propellant is sunlight and the sun is its engine. Light is composed of
electromagnetic radiation that exerts force on objects it comes in contact with.
NASA researchers have found that at 1 astronomical unit (AU), which is the
distance from the sun to Earth, equal to 93 million miles (150 million km),
sunlight can produce about 1.4 kilowatts (kw) of power. If you take 1.4 kw and
divide it by the speed of light, you would find that the force exerted by the sun
is about 9 newtons (N)/square mile (i.e., 2 lb/km2 or .78 lb/mi2).
In comparison, a space shuttle main engine can produce 1.67 million N of force
during lift-off and 2.1 million N of thrust in a vacuum. Eventually, however, the
continuous force of the sunlight on a solar sail could propel a spacecraft to
speeds five times faster than traditional rockets.
(Bonsor)
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF A SOLAR SAIL
For a solar sail to be a practical way of propelling a spacecraft, it must have the
following characteristics:
 Large area - It must collect as much sunlight as possible, because the

larger the area, the greater the force of sunlight.
 Light weight - The sail must be thin and have a minimal mass, because the
more mass, the less acceleration that sunlight imparts to the sail.
 Durable and temperature resistant - It must withstand the temperature
changes, charged particles and micrometeoroid hazards of outer space.
To meet these characteristics, most solar sails are made of thin, metal-coated,
durable plastics such as Mylar or Kapton. For example, the solar sail of Cosmos-
1 is made of aluminum-coated Mylar, has a thickness of 0.0002 inches or 5
microns (ordinary Saran Wrap is about 0.001 inches or 25 microns thick) and an
area of 6,415 square feet (600 square meters).
(Bonsor)
4. TYPES OF SOLAR SAIL
The sail itself would vary in size from tens of meters up to 1000 meters in
diameter, depending on its mission destination, and typically would be shaped
like a square. It would be compactly stored—to about the size of a suitcase—
and stowed for launch. Once deployed, the sails would be supported by ultra-
lightweight trusses.
Solar sails are composed of flat, smooth material covered with a reflective
coating and supported by lightweight structures attached to a central hub. Near-
term sails likely will use aluminized Mylar—a strong, thin polyester film—or
CP-1, a space-rated insulating material. Both are proven materials previously
flown in space. More robust sails might use a meshwork of interlocking carbon
fibers.
Solar sails come in three major designs:
 Square sail
 Heliogyro sail
 Disc sail
(Bonsor)
4.1 SQUARE SAIL
NASA is concentrating its development effort on the three-axis stabilized,
square sail (fig.4.1). This sail looks much like a kite and uses a rigid structure to
extend and suspend the sail material in space to catch sunlight. Four booms
extend from a central hub that houses the four sail quadrants during launch.
These booms are made of fiber-reinforced composite shell, much like an
inflatable tube, or graphite rods assembled in a truss—a structural frame that
provides support—which are lightweight yet stiff and weigh less than an ounce
per foot. The sail orientation and resulting thrust vector—the direction in which
the force is applied—is controlled by imposing a torque, a twisting motion or
rotation, on the sail. This is done either by using control vanes—miniature
sails—or by offsetting the center of the structure’s mass from the center of solar
pressure—much like the effect of pushing on a revolving door
Figure : Concept design of 3-axis stabilized square solar sail system.
(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 10 | P a g e
(Bonsor)
4.2 HELIOGYRO SAIL
Heliogyro sails (fig. 4.2) are composed of several vanes, extending directly
from a central hub that “rolls out” because of the spinning motion of the
craft. A sail configuration with a similar principle is the heliogyro. Its
appearance is more radical than square or
circular sails, using long blades of sail material radiating from a central
hub. Spinning the spacecraft causes tension in the blades through
centrifugal force. This configuration
requires minimal supporting structure and has the additional advantage of
a conceptually simple deployment mechanism. The blades of a heliogyro
can be rolled-up for stowage then deployed by spinning the spacecraft and
using centrifugal force to unroll the blades. A disadvantage of the
heliogyro is the difficulty of controlling a large spinning spacecraft with
long flexible blades of material. Controlling gyroscopic forces is a
significant challenge for this configuration.
(Bonsor)
Figure 4.2: Concept design of heliogyro solar sail system.
4.3 DISC SAIL
Circular in shape, spinning disc sails (fig. 4.3) are connected to a structure
composed of interlocking masts and booms which surround and connect to a
craft. The disc sail is a development of the circular sail that dispenses with the
compressive hoop. Instead, it uses centrifugal force to keep the disc-shaped sail
in tension by spinning the spacecraft in the plane of the sail. This configuration
has the advantage that it needs a minimal support structure. However, a
disadvantage of this design is the difficulty of controlling a spinning spacecraft.
An additional challenge is the problem of packing and deploying the disc.
Figure 4.3: Concept design of spinning disc solar sail system
(Bonsor)
5. WORKING OF SOLAR SAIL
A solar sail is a spacecraft with a large, lightweight mirror attached to it that
moves by being pushed by light reflecting off of the mirror instead of rockets.
When the light from the Sun reflects off the surface of the solar sail, the energy
and momentum of light particles known as "photons" is transferred to the sail.
This gives the sail a "push" that accelerates it through space. Although the
acceleration is very slight, it is also continuous, enabling the sail to reach very
high speeds in a relatively short time. The direction of the push is controlled by
the angle of the sail with respect to the Sun, adding to or subtracting from the
orbital velocity.
Picture above is a simple example of how a solar sail works.

A solar sail, simply put, is a spacecraft propelled by sunlight. Whereas a
conventional rocket is propelled by the thrust produced by its internal engine
(Bonsor)
burn, a solar sail is pushed forward simply by light from the Sun. This is
possible because light is made up of packets of energy known as “photons,” that
act like atomic particles, but with more energy. When a beam of light is pointed
at a bright mirror-like surface, its photons reflect right back, just like a ball
bouncing off a wall. In the process the photons transmit their momentum to the
surface twice – once by the initial impact, and again by reflecting back from it.
Ever so slightly, propelled by a steady stream of reflecting photons, the bright
surface is pushed forward.
A solar sail is made up of just such a reflective surface, or several surfaces,

depending on the sail’s design. When the bright sails face the Sun directly, they
are subjected to a steady barrage of photons that reflect off the shiny surfaces and
impel the spacecraft forward, away from the Sun. By changing the angle of the
sail relative the Sun it is possible to affect the direction in which the sail is
propelled – just as a sailboat changes the angle of its sails to affect its course. It
is even possible to direct the spacecraft towards the Sun, rather than away from
it, by using the photon’s pressure on the sails to slow down the spacecraft’s speed
and bring its orbit closer to the Sun.
(Bonsor)
5.1 How does light push a solar sail?
Photons, which are "particles" of light, bounce off the reflective material of the
sail. (Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction.) The reaction here causes a change in momentum,
pushing the sail and accelerating the spacecraft. A photon reflecting off the
mirror-like surface of a solar sail gives the sail a double kick -- a push equal to
twice the photon's momentum (one push from the sail stopping the photon and
one from it reflecting the photon and accelerating it away).
5.2 Tacking of Solar Sails
As every sailor knows, to tack or beat a sailboat is to sail the boat at an angle into
the wind. Solar sails can do their own form of tacking by using the force of
sunlight pushing out from the sun to actually move closer the sun.
Spacecraft, including solar sails, travel around the sun in orbits. A spacecraft that
is propelled by a rocket can shrink its orbit, and thus move closer to the sun, by
thrusting the rocket in the opposite direction as the spacecraft's motion. Similarly,
if a solar sail can produce thrust in the opposite direction as the spacecraft's
motion, its orbit will also shrink. By producing thrust in the same direction as the
spacecraft's motion, the orbit will expand, and the spacecraft will move farther
away from the sun.
(http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php/Tacking_Solar_Sails) 15 | P a g e
A rocket can thrust opposite its motion by pointing the rocket engine forward
along the path of its motion. This produces a force from the rocket engine that is
in the opposite direction as the spacecraft's motion.
Solar sails are more complex. The force produced by sunlight on a solar sail is
the addition of the forces from the incoming sunlight and the reflected sunlight.
This force always points away from the sun, and is at an angle that is close to a
right angle to the surface of the sail. If this force is angled back along the solar
sail's path, the spacecraft's orbit will start to shrink, bringing it closer to the sun.
If the force is angled forward along the spacecraft's path, the orbit will grow and
the solar sail will head farther from the sun.
This is the general idea behind "tacking into the sun" for solar sails. In real
practice, the behavior of a solar sail is more complicated because sunlight pushes
not only along the spacecraft's orbit, but also straight out from the sun. These
effects are beyond the scope of this document, however
To visualize how this works, take a look at the images on the following page.
Travelling away from the sun:
Travelling towards the sun:
5.3 Relativistic Navigation Needed in Solar Sails
A decent-size solar sail could accelerate out of the solar system in no time, and
this raises new challenges for navigators.
If we're ever going to travel a significant distance from Earth, we're going
to have to break our dependence on chemical propulsion systems. It's just not
possible to carry enough chemical propellant to get up to a decent trot.
An alternative is a solar sail, which uses the force of solar radiation pressure to
accelerate. By one calculation, a solar sail with a radius of about a kilometer and
a mass of 300 kg (including 150 kg of payload) would have a peak acceleration
of about 0.6 g if released on a parabolic trajectory about 0.1 astronomical unit
(AU) from the sun (where the radiation pressure is higher).
That kind of acceleration would take it beyond the Kuiper belt to the heliopause,
the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space (and a distance of
200 AU), in only 2.5 years.
In 30 years, a solar sail could travel 2,500 AU, far enough to explore the Oort
Cloud.
But such a journey may not be smooth sailing, particularly when it comes to
navigation, say Roman Kezerashvili and Justin Vazquez-Poritz, physicists at the
City University of New York. They claim that ordinary Newtonian physics just
doesn't cut it for this kind of journey.
The problem is that the sail would have to be launched so close to the sun that the
effects of general relativity, such as the precession of the perihelion of orbiting
objects, have to be taken into account. And even though those effects are
relatively minor to start with, they have a significant effect over long distances.
(http://1000projects.org/, n.d.) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 18 | P a g e

The calculations carried out by Kezerashvili and Vazquez-Poritz show that the
effects of general relativity could push a solar sail off course by as much as a
million kilometers by the time it reaches the Oort Cloud and that even tiny
relativistic forces such as frame dragging could cause a deflection of 1,000
kilometers
(http://1000projects.org/, n.d.) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 19 | P a g e

6. SAIL CONSTRUCTION
The strategy for near-term sail construction is to make and assemble as much of
the sail as possible on earth. Thus, while the delicate films of the sail must be
made in space, all other components are made on earth. The sail construction
system consists of the following elements: a scaffolding (to control the
structure's deployment), the film fabrication device, a panel assembly device,
and a "crane" for conveying panels to the installation sites.
The scaffolding structure rotates at a rate within the operational envelope of the
sail itself, to facilitate the sail's release. Six compression members define the
vertical edges of the hexagonal prism. Many tension members parallel to the
base link these compression members to support them against centrifugal loads.
Ballast masses flung further from the axis provide additional radial tension and
rigidity near the top of the scaffolding. Other tension members triangulate the
structure for added rigidity. Tension members span the base of the prism,
supporting a node at its center. The interior is left open, providing a volume for
deploying and assembling the sail. The top space is left open, providing an
opening for removing it. The face of the sail is near the top of the scaffolding,
and the rigging below. If the scaffolding is oriented properly, the sun will shine
on the usual side of the sail, making it pull up on its attachment point at the base
of the prism. The total thrust of the said is then an upper bound on the axial load
supported by the compression members. It is clearly desirable to make the
scaffolding a deployable structure.
The sail's structure consists of a regular grid of tension members, springs, and
dampers, and a less regular three-dimensional network of rigging. This is a very
complex object to assemble in space. Fortunately, even the structure for a sail
much larger than described herein can be deposited in the Shuttle payload bay
in deployable form.
(http://www.seminarstopics.com/seminar/solar-sail, 2015) 20 | P a g e
Since the sail is a pure tension structure, its structural elements can be wound up
on reels. Conceptually, the grid structure can be shrunk into a regular array of
reels and a plane. With each node in the lid represented by housings containing
three reels. The rigging can be sunken into a less regular array, and the nodes
containing its reels stacked on top of those of the grid.
The structure will be deployed by pulling on cords attached to certain nodes.
Deployment may be controlled by a friction brake in the hubs of the reels. By
setting the brakes properly, positive tension must be applied for deployment and
certain members may be made to deploy before others. Further control of the
deployment sequence, if needed, may be introduced by a mechanism which
prevents some elements from beginning to deploy until selected adjacent
elements have finished deploying. If detailed external intervention is deemed
desirable, brakes could be rigged to release when a wire on the housing is
severed by laser pulse.
The film fabrication device produces a steady stream of film triangles mounted
to foil spring clusters at their corners. The panel fabrication device takes
segments of the stream and conveys them along a track to assembly stations.
Each segment is fastened to the previous segment and to the edge tension
members that will frame the finished panel.
This non-steady process of panel assembly requires a length of track to serve as

a buffer with a steady film production process.
At the assembly station, the segments are transferred to fixtures with a lateral
transport capability. During transfer, each segment is bonded to the one before
along one edge. While the next segment is brought into position, the last
segment is indexed over a one strip width, completing the cycle. Special devices
bearing the edge tension members travel on tracts and place foil tabs on the
panel structure. The foil tabs linking the segments may be bonded to one
another in many ways, including ultrasonic welding, spot welding, and stapling.
Attachment and conveyance may be integrated if the foil tabs are hooked over
pins for conveyance. The panel assembly cycle ends with a pause, as the
completed panels, now held only by their corners, are lured into a storage region
and new edge members are loaded into position.
At this point the sail's structure is deployed within scaffolding, and panels are
being produced and stored at a panel fabrication module. The stored panels are
initially loaded at a node suspended on tension members above the center of the
sail. A crane is likewise suspended, but from tension members terminated in
actively controlled reels mounted on devices free to move around the top of the
scaffolding. This makes it possible to position the crane over any aperture in the
grid.
Once panel installation is complete and the operation of various reels has been
checked, the sail is ready for release and use. It is already spinning at a rate
within its operational envelope, and is already under thrust, hence, this task is
not difficult. First, the sail's path must be cleared. To do this, the film
fabrication device, its power supply, the panel assembly device, and the crane
are conveyed to the sides of the scaffolding in a balanced fashion. The top face
is cleared of objects and tension members. Then, the members holding the
corners of the sail are released, and the remaining restraint points are brought
forward to carry the sail out of the scaffolding. Finally, all restraints are
released, and the sail rises free.
A four quadrant, 20-meter solar sail system is fully deployed during testing
at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook facility in Sandusky, Ohio.
7. SOLAR SAIL DYNAMICS AND CONTROL
There are essentially two modes for operation and control of the solar sail.
In the first mode, the tilting of panels produces control forces. Each panel has a
mass of some 0.3 to 1.1 kilograms.
This first mode is conceived of as a semi-passive control mode for

interplanetary cruising (where only slow changes of attitude are needed). It is of
importance to consider the stability of a passive sail set at various angles to the
sun. In the ideal sail approximation (planar, perfectly reflecting), thrust will be
normal to the sail and act through its center of area, that is, along the axis of
symmetry. In an absorbing sail, its thrust is divided into purely reflective and
purely absorptive components. The former produces no torque, while the latter
produces a torque. To counter this torque, light pressure must be increased on
the far side of the sail from the sun relative to that on the near side. Making the
sail concave toward the payload accomplishes this purpose.
Since torques can be balanced at all sail angles of interest, small perturbing
torques can shift the sail from one attitude to another, or change its rotation rate.
Since heliocentric orbit times are typically months, spin-up and spin-down
times of ten days and precession rates of 0.1 radian/day seem reasonable
targets. Tilting a panel by about twenty degrees changes the force on it--both
normal to the sail and parallel to it--by about thirty percent of the panel's
maximum thrust.
Sail operation in this first mode configuration is characterized by torques that
may be ballasted by a few statically positioned trim panels 100, permitting an
entirely passive cruise mode. Slow changes in the sail's attitude and spin rate
may be made, from time to time, by cyclic variation of panel tilt to produce
perturbing torques. The passivity of cruise mode and the ease of providing
redundant tiltable panels recommend this mode for reliable interplanetary
transportation.
In the second mode of sail configuration, the payload mass is assumed to be

large compared to the sail mass, and the sail is considered as a separate object
linked to it by actively controlled shroud lines 202 and 204. In the second mode,
the tilting of the panels 200 controls the spin rate. However, in this mode
precession is effected by varying the tension exerted by the shrouds 202 and
204 on different parts of the sail. This is accomplished by reeling and unreeling
the shrouds in a coordinated fashion as the sail turns. For the sail discussed
above, and the probable range of sail performances, this arrangement implies
precession rates of 13 to 26 rad/100 minutes, when the sail is flat with respect to
the sun. This provides a generous margin in turn rate, even from maneuvers in
low earth orbits. This active control permits damping of nutation. This is
important, since nutation would otherwise be initiated by rapid changes in
precession rate. It should be noted that during precession the payload is offset
from the axis of rotation in a direction fixed in inertial space.
For missions involving both interplanetary cruise and circumplanetary

maneuvering, a vehicle able to operate in both modes is desirable. The first
mode has a decisive advantage near planets (because of its maneuverability),
but cannot enter a passive cruise mode. The greater distance between the
payload and sail in this mode precludes balancing the torque on the sail
resulting from absorbed light with a reasonable amount of concavity, as is done
in the first mode. Instead, the torque must be countered in the same manner as
the sail is precessed: by active manipulation of shroud tension. While control of
shroud tension might be made redundant by placing reels at both ends of the
lines, reliability still favors a passive system on long missions. Fortunately,
interconversion seems simple. The second mode control can be maintained as
the shroud lines 202 and 204 are reeled in, so long as the sail is properly
ballasted for mode one. While the payload reaches the mode one position, the
reel can be locked and mode one control begun.
7.1 Cruising by Sunlight
Maneuvering a solar-sail spacecraft requires balancing two factors: the direction

of the solar sail relative to the sun and the orbital speed of the spacecraft. By
changing the angle of the sail with respect to the sun, you change the direction
of the force exerted by sunlight.
When the spacecraft is in orbit around the Earth or sun, it is traveling in a

circular or elliptical path at a given speed and distance. To go to a higher orbit
(travel farther away from the object), you angle the solar sail with respect to the
sun so that the pressure generated by sunlight is in the direction of your orbital
motion.
The force accelerates the spacecraft, increases the speed of its orbit and the
spacecraft moves into a higher orbit. In contrast, if you want to go to a lower
orbit (closer to the object), you angle the sail with respect to the sun so that the
pressure generated by the sunlight is opposite the direction of your orbital
motion. The force then decelerates the spacecraft, decreases the speed of its
orbit and the spacecraft drops into a lower orbit.
The pressure of sunlight decreases with the square of the distance from the sun.
Therefore, sunlight exerts greater pressure closer to the sun than farther away.
Future solar-sail spacecraft may take advantage of this fact by first dropping to
an orbit close to the sun -- a solar fly-by -- and using the greater sunlight
pressure to get a bigger boost of acceleration at the start of the mission. This is
called a powered perihelion maneuver.
8. SOLAR SAIL MATERIALS
While solar sails have been designed before (NASA's had a solar sail program
back in the 1970s), materials available until the last decade or so were much too
heavy to design a practical solar sailing vehicle. Besides being lightweight, the
material must be highly reflective and able to tolerate extreme temperatures.
The giant sails being tested by NASA today are made of very lightweight,
reflective material that is upwards of 100 times thinner than an average sheet of
stationery. This "aluminized, temperature-resistant material" is called CP-1.
Another organization that is developing solar sail technology, the Planetary
Society (a private, non-profit group based in Pasadena, California), supports
the Cosmos 1, which boasts solar sails that are made of aluminum-reinforced
Mylar and are approximately one fourth the thickness of a one-ply plastic trash
bag.
Aluminium being manufactured for the Solar Sail.
The reflective nature of the sails is the key. As photons (light particles) bounce
off the reflective material, they gently push the sail along by transferring
momentum to the sail. Because there are so many photons from sunlight, and
because they are constantly hitting the sail, there is a constant pressure (force
per unit area) exerted on the sail that produces a constant acceleration of the
spacecraft. Although the force on a solar-sail spacecraft is less than a
conventional chemical rocket, such as the space shuttle, the solar-sail spacecraft
constantly accelerates over time and achieves a greater velocity.
8.1 Aluminum as Solar Sail Material

The thin metal film, according to the preferred embodiment of this invention, is
an aluminum film. Aluminum films have high reflectivity, low density, a
reasonable melting point, and a very low vapor pressure. The reflectivity and
transmissivity of aluminum film is a function of its thickness. Generally,
reflectivity for short wave lengths falls off faster with decreasing film thickness
than for longer wave lengths. Consequently, any aluminum film thick enough to
reflect well in the visible wave lengths should reflect even better in the infrared,
where roughly half the sun's power output lies. Even in the visible wave length,
aluminum's reflectivity remains near its bulk value down to a thickness of 30
nm, and remains above 0.8down to about 15 nm. The reflectivity of aluminum
films varies with the deposition conditions. Over a range of at least 300 degrees
to 473 degrees Kelvin, reflectivity increases with decreasing substrate
temperatures. High deposition rates, near-normal vapor incidence, and a good
vacuum favor high reflectivity. In general, poor deposition conditions reduce
reflectivity with a shorter wave length more than for a longer wave length, and
thicker films are more sensitive to vapor incidence angle than are thin films.
Since most of the sun's power output is at comparatively long wave lengths, and
since the films are to be quite thin, poor deposition conditions should not greatly
affect sail performance.
Above some temperature, thin metal films fail by agglomeration. This occurs
because thin films have an enormous ratio of surface to volume, permitting
them to substantially reduce the surface energy by forming droplets. Above the
melting point, the material rearranges swiftly, like a soap bubble bursting. At
temperatures somewhat below the melting point, agglomeration into droplets
occurs far more slowly, through surface diffusion. Thin films made from silver,
with a melting point of 1235degrees Kelvin agglomerate at less than 500
degrees Kelvin. However, the analogous temperature for aluminum is a mere
378 degrees Kelvin. Nevertheless, aluminum films have survived fifteen minute
anneals at 673 degrees Kelvin, and two hour anneals at700 degrees Kelvin. The
reason for this discrepancy is the presence of an oxide layer on the aluminum,
which armors the surface with a rigid, refractory skin, thereby inhibiting surface
diffusion and preventing changes of shape.
Since the film is to be hot and mounted under tension, creep is of concern. The
interior of a small droplet will be in compression, because of its surface energy
and resulting force of surface tension. In like fashion, the interior of a thin film
will be in compression, unless the mounting tension exceeds its surface tension.
Considering the oxide-coated film, elongation not only breaks the oxide skin
(which may be very strong), but also creates a fresh, uncoated aluminum
surface. To shrink, on the other hand, it must somehow crush or destroy the
outside surface, which it clearly cannot do. In fact, shrinkage would manifest
itself as agglomeration, as discussed above.
The strength of a variety of thin metal films and thicker vapor deposited sheets
has been measured experimentally. Metals in thin films have mechanical
properties differing from those of the bulk material, because of the close
proximity of all parts of the film to the surface. The yield and fracture stresses
of aluminum film increase as the film gets thinner. Aluminum films show
substantial ductility, and a variable degree of deformation before failure.
Aluminum films of the minimum thickness required for reflectivity may prove
too weak to support the stresses imposed upon them during fabrication and
operation, or may creep under load at elevated temperatures. If so, it is possible
to strengthen them, not by adding further aluminum, but by adding a reinforcing
film of a stronger, more refractory material. A good reinforcing film should be
strong, light, and easy to deposit. It need not be chemically compatible with
aluminum, since a few nanometers of some other material can serve as a barrier
to diffusion. A reinforcing film is apt to have a high modulus such that it will
act as the sole load bearing element in the composite film. The aluminum film
could help contribute tear resistance, however. The use of a metal as a
reinforcing film could reduce the amount of aluminum needed to give good
reflectance. Some metals, such as nickel, may reflect well enough to be of
interest by themselves.
8.1.1 Titanium as reinforcing material

Films of pure titanium from 150 to 2,000 nanometers thick were found to have
strengths of 460 to 620 NPa, while vapor deposited foils of Pi-6Al-4V from
40,000 to 2,000,000 nanometers thick had tensile strengths of 970 to 1200 NPa.
Titanium has enough strength and temperature tolerance to make it an attractive
choice as a reinforcing film.
8.1.2 Nickel as reinforcing material
The strength of nickel film exceeds 2,000 NPa at a thickness of 70 nanometers

or less, dropping to 1500 NPa on annealing. Nickel’s density is a disadvantage
for use in sails of the highest performance, which should prove acceptable for
bulk transport sails.
8.1.3 Silicon Monoxide as reinforcing material

Silicon monoxide is a popular thin film material with many uses. On aluminum,
these films have found extensive use as satellite thermal control coatings, and
have demonstrated their stability in the space environment. Mounted on fine
metal meshes, unbacked SiO films as thin as 2.5 nanometers have found use as
specimen supports in electron microscopy; such films are described as having
"great strength," and are so stable at high temperatures that they may be cleaned
by passing them rapidly through a flame. Since silicon monoxide is easy to
evaporate, is refractory, has a low density, is apparently of high strength in
extremely thin film form, and is of known space compatibility, silicon
monoxide shows promise as a reinforcing film material.
8.1.4 Boron as reinforcing material

Vapor deposited boron film has a strength of 620 MPa. Since it is light and
refractory, boron may prove desirable as a reinforcing material. Carbon forms
amorphous films of "exceptional strength;" those used in electron microscopy
are made as thin as 4 nanometers. Since carbon is strong, light, refractory, and
easy to deposit, it is a promising material for reinforcing film. For a wide
variety of reasons, the sail surface will not be one big piece of film, but rather
many smaller sheets mounted on a structure. Since the fabrication device, as
described hereinafter, will produce strips, natural choices for the shapes of the
sheet include long strips, shorter rectangles or squares cut from strips, and
triangles cut from the strips. The sheets must be tensioned, and should be
planar. Since a triangular sheet will be planed if tensioned at its corners, and
since triangular sheets will fit well into a fully triangulated structure, they will
be used as a basis for further design.
In 2000, Energy Science Laboratories developed a new carbon fiber material

which might be useful for solar sails. The material is over 200 times thicker
than conventional solar sail designs, but it is so porous that it has the same
weight. The rigidity and durability of this material could make solar sails that
are significantly sturdier than plastic films. The material could self-deploy and
should withstand higher temperatures.
Tears are a critical concern in the use of thin films for solar sails. While even
sheets of extremely thin material have adequate strength to support the load
expected during fabrication and operation in the absence of stress
concentrations, the inevitability of manufacturing flaws and micrometeoroid
damage makes this a small comfort.
A means of limiting the spread of tears would be desirable, as it would allow a

thinner sheet to tolerate greater damage without failure.
The most obvious method of limiting tears is to mount the film on a supporting
mesh. However, differing coefficients of thermal expansion and differing
temperature between the mesh and the film are apt to make the film become
slack and lose its flatness, or become taut and possibly tear. Further, the mesh
adds mass to the sail and, because it must be fabricated, transported into space
and attached to the film, adds cost as well.
A more natural approach to tear-stopping is to subdivide the film, convert it

from a continuous sheet to a redundant network of small, load-bearing elements.
In such a structure, a large manufacturing flow or a grazing micrometeoroid
impact is free to initiate a tear--but the tear will cause the failure, not of an
entire sheet, but of a small piece of film, perhaps 25 square millimeters in area.
Patterns of cuts and wrinkles can de-tension areas of film to isolate stress to
smaller regions. Each wrinkled region is fabricated with enough extra material
to avoid being stretched flat as the film is tensioned. Stress isolation is aided by
slits extending perpendicular to the boundary. The slits are terminated at their
stress bearing ends in a way that avoids initiation of tears. This approach to tear
resistance appears superior to that of mounting the films on a metal mesh. It
involves the fabrication of no additional elements and the addition of no extra
mass. By taking advantage of the natural strength of the films, it avoids
slackness due to differential expansion and yields a flatter sail.
9. SOLAR SAIL LAUNCH
With just sunlight as power, a solar sail would never be launched directly from
the ground. A second spacecraft is needed to launch the solar sail, which would
then be deployed in space. Another possible way to launch a solar sail would be
with microwave or laser beams provided by a satellite or other spacecraft. These
energy beams could be directed at the sail to launch it into space and provide a
secondary power source during its journey. In one experiment at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), sails were driven to liftoff using microwave
beams, while laser beams were used to push the sail forward.
Once launched, the sails are deployed using an inflatable boom system that is
triggered by a built-in deployment mechanism.
(<https://science.howstuffworks.com/solar-sail.htm> 28 December 2017) 35 | P a g e

10.Projects Operating or Completed
10.1 Attitude (orientation) control
Both the Mariner 10 mission, which flew by the planets Mercury and Venus,
and the MESSENGER mission to Mercury demonstrated the use of solar
pressure as a method of attitude control in order to conserve attitude-control
propellant.
Hayabusa also used solar pressure on its solar paddles as a method of attitude
control to compensate for broken reaction wheels and chemical thruster.
10.2 Ground deployment tests
NASA has successfully tested deployment technologies on small scale sails in

vacuum chambers.[55]
On February 4, 1993, the Znamya 2, a 20-meter wide aluminized-mylar

reflector, was successfully deployed from the Russian Mir space station.
Although the deployment succeeded, propulsion was not demonstrated. A
second test, Znamya 2.5, failed to deploy properly.
In 1999, a full-scale deployment of a solar sail was tested on the ground at

DLR/ESA in Cologne.[56]
10.3 Suborbital tests
A joint private project between Planetary Society, Cosmos Studios and Russian
Academy of Science in 2001 made a suborbital prototype test, which failed
because of rocket failure.
A 15-meter-diameter solar sail (SSP, solar sail sub payload, soraseiru

sabupeiro-do) was launched together with ASTRO-F on a M-V rocket on
February 21, 2006, and made it to orbit. It deployed from the stage, but opened
incompletely.[57]
On August 9, 2004, the Japanese ISAS successfully deployed two prototype

solar sails from a sounding rocket. A clover-shaped sail was deployed at 122 km
altitude and a fan-shaped sail was deployed at 169 km altitude. Both sails used
7.5-micrometer film. The experiment purely tested the deployment mechanisms,
not propulsion.
(Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 36 | P a g e
10.4 IKAROS 2010
The model of IKAROS at the 61st International Astronautical Congress in 2010
On 21 May 2010, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched

the world's first interplanetary solar sail spacecraft "IKAROS"
(Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) to
Venus.[59] Using a new solar-photon propulsion method,[60] it was the first true
solar sail spacecraft fully propelled by sunlight,[61][62] and was the first
spacecraft to succeed in solar sail flight.[63]
JAXA successfully tested IKAROS in 2010. The goal was to deploy and control
the sail and, for the first time, to determine the minute orbit perturbations
caused by light pressure. Orbit determination was done by the
nearby AKATSUKI probe from which IKAROS detached after both had been
brought into a transfer orbit to Venus. The total effect over the six month' flight
was 100 m/s.[64]
Until 2010, no solar sails had been successfully used in space as primary
propulsion systems. On 21 May 2010, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA) launched the IKAROS spacecraft, which deployed a 200 m2 polyimide
experimental solar sail on June 10.[65][66][67]
The data showed that IKAROS appears to have been solar-sailing since 3 June
when it deployed the sail.
IKAROS has a diagonal spinning square sail 14×14 m (196 m2) made of a 7.5-
micrometre (0.0075 mm) thick sheet of polyimide. The polyimide sheet had a
mass of about 10 grams per square metre. A thin-film solar array is embedded
in the sail. Eight LCD panels are embedded in the sail, whose reflectance can be
adjusted for attitude control.[69][70] IKAROS spent six months traveling to
Venus, and then began a three-year journey to the far side of the Sun.[71]
10.5 NanoSail-D 2010
A photo of the experimental solar sail, NanoSail-D.
A team from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (Marshall), along with a
team from the NASA Ames Research Center, developed a solar sail mission
called NanoSail-D, which was lost in a launch failure aboard a Falcon 1 rocket
on 3 August 2008.[72][73] The second backup version, NanoSail-D2, also
sometimes called simply NanoSail-D,[74] was launched with FASTSAT on
a Minotaur IV on November 19, 2010, becoming NASA's first solar sail
deployed in low earth orbit.
The objectives of the mission were to test sail deployment technologies, and to
gather data about the use of solar sails as a simple, "passive" means of de-
orbiting dead satellites and space debris.[75] The NanoSail-D structure was made
of aluminium and plastic, with the spacecraft massing less than 10 pounds
(4.5 kg). The sail has about 100 square feet (9.3 m2) of light-catching surface.
After some initial problems with deployment, the solar sail was deployed and
over the course of its 240-day mission reportedly produced a "wealth of data"
concerning the use of solar sails as passive deorbit devices.[76]
NASA launched the second NanoSail-D unit stowed inside the FASTSAT
satellite on the Minotaur IV on January 20, 2011.
10.6 Planetary Society LightSail Projects
In June 21, 2005, a joint private project between Planetary Society, Cosmos
Studios and Russian Academy of Science launched a prototype sail Cosmos
1 from a submarine in the Barents Sea, but the Volna rocket failed, and the
spacecraft failed to reach orbit. They intended to use the sail to gradually raise
the spacecraft to a higher Earth orbit over a mission duration of one month.
Despite the failed launch attempt of Cosmos 1, The Planetary Society received
applause for their efforts from the space community and sparked a rekindled
interest in solar sail technology.
On November 9, 2009 the Planetary Society announced plans[79] to make three

further attempts, dubbed LightSail-1, -2, and -3.[80] The new design will use a 32
m2 Mylar sail, deployed in four triangular segments like NanoSail-D.[80] The
launch configuration is a 3U CubeSat format, and as of 2015, it is scheduled as
a secondary payload for a 2016 launch on the first SpaceX Falcon
Heavy launch.[81] "LightSail-1" was launched on 20 May 2015.[82] The purpose
of the test was to allow a full checkout of the satellite's systems in advance of
the main 2016 mission, LightSail-1.
11.Projects in development or proposed
Despite the losses of Cosmos 1 and NanoSail-D (which were due to failure of
their launchers), scientists and engineers around the world remain encouraged
and continue to work on solar sails. While most direct applications created so
far intend to use the sails as inexpensive modes of cargo transport, some
scientists are investigating the possibility of using solar sails as a means of
transporting humans. This goal is strongly related to the management of very
large (i.e. well above 1 km2) surfaces in space and the sail making
advancements. Manned space flight utilizing solar sails is still in the
development state of infancy.
11.1 Sunjammer 2015
A technology demonstration sail craft, dubbed Sunjammer, was in development

with the intent to prove the viability and value of sailing
technology.[83] Sunjammer had a square sail, 124 feet (38 meters) wide on each
side (total area 13,000 sq ft or 1,208 sq m). It would have traveled from the
Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point 900,000 miles from Earth (1.5 million km) to a
distance of 1,864,114 miles (3 million kilometers).[84] The demonstration was
expected to launch on a Falcon 9 in January 2015.[85] It would have been a
secondary payload, released after the placement of the DSCOVR climate
satellite at the L1 point.[85] Citing a lack of confidence in its contractor's ability
to deliver, the mission was cancelled in October 2014.[86]
11.2 Gossamer deorbit sail
As of December 2013, the European Space Agency (ESA) has a proposed

deorbit sail, named "Gossamer", that would be intended to be used to
accelerate the deorbiting of small (less than 700 kilograms (1,500 lb))
artificial satellites from low-Earth orbits. The launch mass is 2 kilograms
(4.4 lb) with a launch volume of only 15×15×25 centimetres
(0.49×0.49×0.82 ft). Once deployed, the sail would expand to 5 by 5
metres (16 ft × 16 ft) and would use a combination of solar pressure on the
sail and increased atmospheric drag to accelerate satellite reentry.[32]
11.3 NEA Scout
NEA Scout concept: a controllable CubeSat solar sail spacecraft
The Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) is a mission being jointly

developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), consisting of a controllable low-
cost CubeSat solar sail spacecraft capable of encountering near-Earth
asteroids (NEA).[87] Four 7 m booms would deploy, unfurling the 83
m2 aluminized polyimide solar sail.[88][89][90] In 2015, NASA announced it had
selected NEA Scout to launch as one of several secondary payloads aboard EM-
1, the first flight of the agency's heavy-lift SLS launch vehicle.
11.4 Jupiter Trojan Asteroid Explorer
The Jupiter Trojan Asteroid Explorer is a proposed mission concept by

Japan's JAXA to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids using a hybrid solar sail for
propulsion; the sail is covered with thin solar panels to power an ion engine. In-
situ analysis of the collected samples would be performed by either direct
contact or using a lander carrying a high-resolution mass spectrometer. A lander
and a sample-return to Earth are options under study.[92] The Jupiter Trojan
Asteroid Explorer is a finalist for Japan's ISAS'2nd Large-class mission to be
launched in the late 2020s.
11.5 Breakthrough Starshot
The well-funded Breakthrough Starshot project announced in April 12, 2016,

aims to develop a fleet of 1000 light sail nanocraft carrying miniature cameras,
propelled by ground-based lasers and send them to Alpha Centauri at 20% the
speed of light. The trip would take 20 years.
12. ADVANTAGES
 Since the solar photon flow is constantly present in the solar system, a
spacecraft equipped with a sail undergoes a continuous thrust that allows it to
reach any destination.
 Because it carries no fuel and keeps accelerating over almost unlimited
distances, it is the only technology now in existence that can one day take us
to the stars.
 Solar sails give a very low thrust, but they can work continuously, pushing
spacecraft faster and faster.
 A solar sail can, in time, move the spacecraft even faster than a chemical
rocket.
 There is no need for the expenditure of on-board propellant during
interplanetary travel.
 As is the case with terrestrial sailboats, space sailcraft require some device
that can control the orientation of the sail.
 As is the case with terrestrial sailboats, interplanetary sailcraft can be fully
reusable.
 There is no need to build a staged sailcraft (unless one wants to accomplish
some very special missions).
 Also, depending on how good we are in navigating, flight times for certain
missions can be decreased significantly with respect to those obtainable by
rockets
 For a round trip solar sails have great advantage since no fuel is needed for the
return.
 As for traveling the greater distances necessary to reach the stars, solar-sail
spacecraft, which have gradual but constant acceleration, can achieve greater
velocities than conventional chemical rockets and so can span the distance in
less time.
(http://1000projects.org/) 43 | P a g e
 Solar-sail technology will make interstellar flights and shuttling between
planets less expensive and therefore more practical than conventional
chemical rockets
Solar sails will set new speed records for spacecraft and will enable us to
travel beyond our solar system.
13. LIMITATIONS OF SOLAR SAILS
 Solar sails don't work well, if at all, in low Earth orbit below about 800 km
altitude due to erosion or air drag. Above that altitude they give very small
accelerations that take months to build up to useful speeds. Solar sails have to
be physically large, and payload size is often small. Deploying solar sails is
also highly challenging to date.
 Solar sails must face the sun to decelerate. Therefore, on trips away from the
sun, they must arrange to loop behind the outer planet, and decelerate into the
sunlight.
 There is a common misunderstanding that solar sails cannot go towards their
light source. This is false. In particular, sails can go toward the sun by thrusting
against their orbital motion. This reduces the energy of their orbit, spiraling
the sail toward the sun.
 Solar sails give a very low thrust.
 Solar sail spacecraft accelerate gradually, unlike conventional chemical
rockets, which offer extremely quick acceleration. So for a fast trip to Mars, a
solar-sail spacecraft offers no advantage over a conventional chemical rocket.
 The acceleration diminishes due to an increasing distance from the Sun.
14. MISUNDERSTANDINGS
Critics of the solar sail argue that solar sails are impractical for orbital and
interplanetary missions because they move on an indirect course. However,
when in Earth orbit, the majority of mass on most interplanetary missions is
taken up by fuel. A robotic solar sail could therefore multiply an interplanetary
payload by several times by reducing this significant fuel mass, and create a
reusable, multimission spacecraft. Most near-term planetary missions involve
robotic exploration craft, in which the directness of the course is unimportant
compared to the fuel mass savings and fast transit times of a solar sail. For
example, most existing missions use multiple gravitational slingshots to reduce
necessary fuel mass, in order to save transit time at the cost of directness of the
route.
There is also a misunderstanding that solar sails capture energy primarily from
the solar wind high speed charged particles emitted from the sun. These
particles would impart a small amount of momentum upon striking the sail, but
this effect would be small compared to the force due to radiation pressure from
light reflected from the sail.
The force due to light pressure is about 5,000 times as strong as that due to solar
wind. A much larger type of sail called a magsail would employ the solar wind.
It has been proposed that momentum exchange from reflection of photons is an

unproven effect that may violate the thermodynamical Carnot rule. This
criticism was raised by Thomas Gold of Cornell, leading to a public debate in
the spring of 2003. This criticism has been refuted by Benjamin Diedrich,
pointing out that the Carnot Rule does not apply to an open system. Further
explanation of lab results demonstrating is provided. James Oberg has also
refuted Dr. Gold's analysis: "But ‘solar sailing’ isn’t theoretical at all, and
photon pressure has been successfully calculated for all large spacecraft.
Interplanetary missions would arrive thousands of kilometers off course if
correct equations had not been used. The effect for a genuine ‘solar sail’ will be
even more spectacular."
One way to see the conservation of energy as not a problem is to note that when
reflected by a solar sail, a photon undergoes a Doppler shift; its wavelength
increases (and energy decreases) by a factor dependent on the velocity of the
sail, transferring energy from the sun-photon system to the sail. This change of
energy can easily be verified to be exactly equal (and opposite) to the energy
change of the sail.
15. APPLICATIONS
Potential applications for sail craft range throughout the Solar System, from
near the Sun to the comet clouds beyond Neptune. The craft can make outbound
voyages to deliver loads or to take up station keeping at the destination. They
can be used to haul cargo and possibly also used for human travel.
15.1 Inner planets
For trips within the inner Solar System, they can deliver loads and then return to
Earth for subsequent voyages, operating as an interplanetary shuttle. For Mars
in particular, the craft could provide economical means of routinely supplying
operations on the planet according to Jerome Wright, "The cost of launching the
necessary conventional propellants from Earth are enormous for manned
missions. Use of sailing ships could potentially save more than $10 billion in
mission costs."[2]
Mercury Venus Mars Mars

Sail size Rendezvous Rendezvous Rendezvous Aerobrake
m
Days tons days tons days tons days tons
600 9 200 1 400 2 131 2

800
σ = 5 g/m² 900 19 270 5 500 5 200 5
w/o cargo
1200 28 700 9 338 10
600 66 200 17 400 23 131 20

2000
σ = 3 g/m² 900 124 270 36 500 40 200 40
w/o cargo
1200 184 700 66 338 70
(Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solar_sail&oldid=824615443>)
48 | P a g e
Solar sail craft can approach the Sun to deliver observation payloads or to take
up station keeping orbits. They can operate at 0.25 AU or closer. They can
reach high orbital inclinations, including polar.
Solar sails can travel to and from all of the inner planets. Trips to Mercury and
Venus are for rendezvous and orbit entry for the payload. Trips to Mars could
be either for rendezvous or swing-by with release of the payload
for aerodynamic braking.
15.2 Outer planets
Minimum transfer times to the outer planets benefit from using an indirect
transfer (solar swing-by). However, this method results in high arrival speeds.
Slower transfers have lower arrival speeds.
The minimum transfer time to Jupiter for ac of 1 mm/s2 with no departure
velocity relative to Earth is 2 years when using an indirect transfer (solar swing-
by). The arrival speed (V∞) is close to 17 km/s. For Saturn, the minimum trip
time is 3.3 years, with an arrival speed of nearly 19 km/s.
Minimum times to the outer planets (ac = 1 mm/s2)
Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
Time,
2.0 3.3 5.8 8.5
yr
Speed,
17 19 20 20
km/s
15.3 Oort Cloud / Sun's inner gravity focus

The Sun's inner gravitational focus point lies at minimum distance of 550 AU
from the Sun, and is the point to which light from distant objects is focused by
gravity as a result of it passing by the Sun. This is thus the distant point to
which solar gravity will cause the region of deep space on the other side of the
Sun to be focused, thus serving effectively as a very large telescope objective
lens.[21][22]
49 | P a g e
It has been proposed that an inflated sail, made of beryllium, that starts at 0.05
AU from the Sun would gain an initial acceleration of 36.4 m/s2, and reach a
speed of 0.00264c (about 950 km/s) in less than a day. Such a sail would take
"Two and a half years to reach the heliopause, six and a half years to reach the
Sun’s inner gravitational focus, with arrival at the inner Oort Cloud in no more
than thirty years."[22] "Such a mission could perform useful astrophysical
observations en route, explore gravitational focusing techniques, and image
Oort Cloud objects while exploring particles and fields in that region that are of
galactic rather than solar origin."
15.4 Satellites
Robert L. Forward has commented that a solar sail could be used to modify the
orbit of a satellite about the Earth. In the limit, a sail could be used to "hover" a
satellite above one pole of the Earth. Spacecraft fitted with solar sails could also
be placed in close orbits such that they are stationary with respect to either the
Sun or the Earth, a type of satellite named by Forward a "statite". This is
possible because the propulsion provided by the sail offsets the gravitational
attraction of the Sun. Such an orbit could be useful for studying the properties
of the Sun for long durations.
15.5 Trajectory Corrections

The MESSENGER probe orbiting Mercury used light pressure on its solar
panels to perform fine trajectory corrections on the way to Mercury.[24] By
changing the angle of the solar panels relative to the Sun, the amount of solar
radiation pressure was varied to adjust the spacecraft trajectory more delicately
than possible with thrusters. Minor errors are greatly amplified by gravity
assist maneuvers, so using radiation pressure to make very small corrections
saved large amounts of propellant.
15.6 Interstellar flight

The ship would first drop into an orbit making a close pass to the Sun, to
maximize the solar energy input on the sail, then it would begin to accelerate
away from the system using the light from the Sun. Acceleration will drop
approximately as the inverse square of the distance from the Sun, and beyond
50 | P a g e
some distance, the ship would no longer receive enough light to accelerate it
significantly, but would maintain the final velocity attained. When nearing the
target star, the ship could turn its sails toward it and begin to use the outward
pressure of the destination star to decelerate. Rockets could augment the solar
thrust.
15.7 Deorbiting artificial satellites
Small solar sails have been proposed to accelerate the deorbiting of small
artificial satellites from Earth orbits. Satellites in low Earth orbit can use a
combination of solar pressure on the sail and increased atmospheric drag to
accelerate satellite reentry.[32] A de-orbit sail developed at Cranfield
University is part of the UK satellite TechDemoSat-1, launched in 2014, and is
expected to be deployed at the end of the satellite's five-year useful life. The
sail's purpose is to bring the satellite out of orbit over a period of about 25
years.[33] In July 2015 British 3U CubeSat called DeorbitSail was launched into
space with the purpose of testing 16 m2 deorbit structure,[34] but eventually it
failed to deploy it.[35] There is also a student 2U CubeSat mission called PW-
Sat2 planned to launch in 2017 that will test 4 m2 deorbit sail.[36] In June 2017 a
second British 3U CubeSat called InflateSail deployed a 10 m2 deorbit sail at an
altitude of 500 kilometers (310 mi).
51 | P a g e
16. FUTURE SPACE TRAVEL
Solar sail technology will eventually play a key role in long

distance NASA missions. NASA believes that the exploration of space is
similar to the tale of the "Tortoise and the Hare," with rocket-propelled
spacecraft being the hare. In this race, the rocket-propelled spacecraft will
quickly jump out, moving quickly toward its destination. On the other hand, a
rocket less spacecraft powered by a solar sail would begin its journey at a slow
but steady pace, gradually picking up speed as the sun continues to exert force
upon it. Sooner or later, no matter how fast it goes, the rocket ship will run out
of power. In contrast, the solar sail craft has an endless supply of power from
the sun. Additionally, the solar sail could potentially return to Earth, whereas
the rocket powered vehicle would not have any propellant to bring it back.
Projects operating or completed.
If NASA were to launch an interstellar probe powered by solar sails, it would

take only eight years for it to catch the Voyager 1 spacecraft (the most distant
spacecraft from Earth), which has been traveling for more than 20 years. By
adding a laser or magnetic beam transmitter, NASA said it could push speeds to
18,600 mi/sec (30,000 km/sec), which is one-tenth of the speed of light. At
those speeds, interstellar travel would be an almost certainty.
Solar sailing is a way of moving around in space by allowing sunlight to push a

spacecraft. In everyday experience, we do not feel any kind of force or pressure
from sunlight. This is because sunlight is so gentle that all the other things in
our environment - gravity, wind, and the strength of our own bodies - drown it
out. However, in space, there is no air, and objects are freely falling through
space instead of constantly fighting gravity. In this environment, sunlight can
(<https://science.howstuffworks.com/solar-sail.htm> 28 December 2017, 2000) 52 | P a g e

dominate and allow spacecraft to move at will, like sailing vessels on Earth's
oceans.
As it continues to be pushed by sunlight, the solar sail-propelled vehicle will

build up speeds that rocket powered vehicles would never be able to achieve.
Such a vehicle would eventually travel at about 56 mi/sec (90 km/sec), which
would be more than 200,000 mph (324,000 kph). That speed is about 10 times
faster than the space shuttle's orbital speed of 5 mi/sec (8 km/sec).

17. CONCLUSION
The major advantage of a solar-sail spacecraft is its ability to travel between the
planets and to the stars without carrying fuel. Solar-sail spacecraft need only a
conventional launch vehicle to get into Earth orbit, where the solar sails can be
deployed and the spacecraft sent on its way. These spacecraft accelerate
gradually, unlike conventional chemical rockets, which offer extremely quick
acceleration. So for a fast trip to Mars, a solar-sail spacecraft offers no advantage
over a conventional chemical rocket. However, if you need to carry a large
payload to Mars and you're not in a hurry, a solar-sail spacecraft is ideal. As for
traveling the greater distances necessary to reach the stars, solar-sail spacecraft,
which have gradual but constant acceleration, can achieve greater velocities than
conventional chemical rockets and so can span the distance in less time.
Ultimately, solar-sail technology will make interstellar flights and shuttling
between planets less expensive and therefore more practical than conventional
chemical rockets.
engines -- replacing them with sails.
Solar sail technology will eventually play a key role in long-distance NASA
missions. But just how far will these solar sails be able to take us and how fast
will they get us there?

As we found out in the last section, solar sails would not initially be driven by the
amount of force that is used to launch the space shuttle. NASA believes that the
exploration of space is similar to the tale of the "Tortoise and the Hare," with
rocket-propelled spacecraft being the hare. In this race, the rocket-propelled
spacecraft will quickly jump out, moving quickly toward its destination. On the
other hand, a rocketless spacecraft powered by a solar sail would begin its journey
at a slow but steady pace, gradually picking up speed as the sun continues to exert
force upon it. Sooner or later, no matter how fast it goes, the rocket ship will run
out of power. In contrast, the solar sail craft has an endless supply of power from
the sun. Additionally, the solar sail could potentially return to Earth, whereas the
rocket powered vehicle would not have any propellant to bring it back.
As it continues to be pushed by sunlight, the solar sail-propelled vehicle will

build up speeds that rocket powered vehicles would never be able to achieve.
Such a vehicle would eventually travel at about 56 mi/sec (90 km/sec), which
would be more than 200,000 mph (324,000 kph). That speed is about 10 times
faster than the space shuttle's orbital speed of 5 mi/sec (8 km/sec).
To give you an idea how fast that is, you could travel from Kashmir to
Kanyakumari in about half minute with a solar sail vehicle traveling at top
speed.

If NASA were to launch an interstellar probe powered by solar sails, it would
take only eight years for it to catch the Voyager 1 spacecraft (the most distant
spacecraft from Earth), which has been traveling for more than 20 years. By
adding a laser or magnetic beam transmitter, NASA said it could push speeds to
18,600 mi/sec (30,000 km/sec), which is one-tenth the speed of light. At those
speeds, interstellar travel would be an almost certainty.

(NASA, 2004)
18. REFERENCES
Wikipedia contributors, "Solar sail," Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solar_sail&oldid=824
615443 (accessed February 19, 2018).
Kevin Bonsor "How Solar Sails Work" 12 October 2000.

HowStuffWorks.com. <https://science.howstuffworks.com/solar-sail.htm> 18
February 2018
Wikipedia contributors, "Cosmos 1," Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cosmos_1&oldid=80
9300646 (accessed February 19, 2018).
Ramega. (2011, October 16). Solar Sails Mech Project Report for Students.
Retrieved from 1000projects: http://1000projects.org/solar-sails-mech-project-
report-for-students.html
Diedrich, B. L. (2009, June 30 ). Tacking Solar Sails. Retrieved from
SolarSailWiki: http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php/Tacking_Solar_Sails
Diedrich, B. L. (2010, September 10). Solar Sailing 101. Retrieved Jan 3, 2018,
from SolarSailsWiki:
http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php?title=Solar_Sailing_101
Burkert, J. (2007, December 14). Sailing to the Moon. University of Colorado,
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Boulder. Retrieved January 28, 2018,
from http://ccar.colorado.edu/asen5050/projects/projects_2007/burkert_proj/
Janorkar, P. (2015, August 19). Solar Sail. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from
seminarstopics.com: http://www.seminarstopics.com/seminar/solar-sail
NASA. (2004, October). NASA Facts. National Administration and Space

Administration, Marshall Space Flight Center. Huntsville, Alabama 35812: FS-
2004-10-131-MSFC. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/pdf/100420main_solar_sails.pdf
57 | P a g e
www.howstuffworks.com
www.google.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.nasa.gov
www.spacecraft.com
www.planetary.org
www.1000projects.org
www.quora.com
www.physrog.com
www.wiki.solarsails.info
www.seminarstopic.com
www.answers.com
References
http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php/Tacking_Solar_Sails. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php/Tacking_Solar_Sails
http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php?title=Solar_Sailing_101. (2017, Dec 25). Retrieved Jan 3, 2018, from
http://wiki.solarsails.info/index.php?title=Solar_Sailing_101
http://www.seminarstopics.com/seminar/solar-sail. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.seminarstopics.com/seminar/solar-sail
https://science.howstuffworks.com/solar-sail.htm. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://science.howstuffworks.com/solar-sail.htm
Images, G. (n.d.). Google Images>Solar Sails. Retrieved from Google Images:
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=solar+sails&rlz=1C1CHZL_enIN732IN732&source=lnms&tbm
=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7kdvZlLHZAhUIR48KHSQOBg8Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=637
Janorkar, P. (2015, August 19). http://www.seminarstopics.com/seminar/solar-sail. Retrieved from
seminarstopics.com: http://www.seminarstopics.com/seminar/solar-sail
NASA Facts<https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/>. (2004, October). Retrieved from
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/pdf/100420main_solar_sails.pdf
58 | P a g e

Seminar Report On Solar Sails

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Seminar Report On Solar Sails

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

A

Submitted for the Partial Fulfilment of

Guided by: Submitted by:

Department of Electrical Engineering

Countersigned by (Dr. A. R. Garg)

Department of Electrical Engineering

Countersigned by (Dr. A. R. Garg)

(Dr. (Mrs.) Jayashri Vajpai)

Professor & Head

Department of Electrical Engineering

It is my proud privilege and duty to acknowledge the kind of help and

Chapter-02: Solar Sail Concept 5

Chapter-03: Solar Sail Characteristics 8

Chapter-04: Types of Solar Sail 9

Chapter-05: Working of Solar Sail 13

Chapter-06: Sail Construction 20

Chapter-08: Solar Sail Materials 26

Chapter-09: Solar Sail Launch 35

Chapter-10: Projects Operating or Completed 36

Chapter-11: Projects in development or proposed 40

Chapter-13. Limitations of solar sails 45

Chapter-16: Future Space Travel 52

Sunlight can have a significant effect on objects, depending on how lightweight

In order for sunlight to provide sufficient pressure to propel a spacecraft forward,

Solar sail spacecraft

PHOTO COURTESY THE PLANETARY SOCIETY

1.2Solar Sail History

(NASA, 2004) 3|Page

1.3 Solar Sail Missions

Solar sail research is part of NASA’s In-Space Propulsion Technologies

(NASA, 2004) 4|Page

 Continuous force exerted by sunlight

The fundamental principle of solar sailing is illustrated in Figure 3. If the

(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 5|Page

(Google Images>Solar Sails) 6|Page

(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 7|Page

 Large area - It must collect as much sunlight as possible, because the

(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 8|Page

(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 9|Page

Figure : Concept design of 3-axis stabilized square solar sail system.

(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 10 | P a g e

(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 11 | P a g e

Figure 4.3: Concept design of spinning disc solar sail system

(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 12 | P a g e

Picture above is a simple example of how a solar sail works.

A solar sail is made up of just such a reflective surface, or several surfaces,

(http://1000projects.org/) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 14 | P a g e

5.2 Tacking of Solar Sails

Travelling towards the sun:

(http://1000projects.org/, n.d.) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 18 | P a g e

(http://1000projects.org/, n.d.) (Solar sail<https://en.wikipedia.org/>) 19 | P a g e

This non-steady process of panel assembly requires a length of track to serve as

This first mode is conceived of as a semi-passive control mode for

In the second mode of sail configuration, the payload mass is assumed to be

For missions involving both interplanetary cruise and circumplanetary

7.1 Cruising by Sunlight

Maneuvering a solar-sail spacecraft requires balancing two factors: the direction

When the spacecraft is in orbit around the Earth or sun, it is traveling in a

Aluminium being manufactured for the Solar Sail.

8.1 Aluminum as Solar Sail Material

8.1.1 Titanium as reinforcing material

The strength of nickel film exceeds 2,000 NPa at a thickness of 70 nanometers

8.1.3 Silicon Monoxide as reinforcing material