Solar sailing technology challenges

Abstract

Solar sailing technology has been demonstrated in the space environment over the past decade, in Earth orbit and on an interplanetary trajectory. These technology demonstration missions, along with a forty-year history of conceptual studies and laboratory development, have provided a foundation for a new era of missions where solar sailing provides the necessary propulsion to achieve space science and infrastructure goals. Numerous challenges remain on the path to flagship-class missions utilizing solar sails. This paper provides a survey of the current state of the art in solar sailing technology, including a taxonomy of solar sail design. A summary of solar sailing missions is provided, along with description of the larger-scale ground test programs. A set of representative next-generation solar sailing mission concepts is then presented, to establish driving requirements for future applications. To meet the objectives for these future missions, sail areas must increase by a factor of 50–500 relative to the largest solar sail flown to date. Sail loading, sailcraft areal density, characteristic acceleration and lightness number must improve by one to two orders of magnitude. Technology advancements required to meet the future solar sailing performance needs are described, providing a technology roadmap for solar sailing capability.