Elements of Solar Sail Navigation with Application to a Halley's Comet Rendezvous

Abstract

The problem of interplanetary navigation of a solar sail spacecraft is examined and found to be analogous to that of solar electric spacecraft. The dominant navigation error sources are shown to be accelerations that are unaccounted for in the description of the vehicle's motion, due to the inability to precisely model the solar radiation pressure. A strategy for navigation in the presence of these accelerations is devised, based on techniques previously developed for solar electric vehicles. An evaluation of the strategy is made for a Halley's comet rendezvous mission, and the results of that evaluation indicate that the strategy gives acceptable performance.