EVALUATION OF DEEP SPACE MISSIONS USING MAGNETO-PLASMA SAIL

摘要

The magneto-plasma sail produces the propulsive force due to the interaction between the artificial magnetic field around the spacecraft inflated by the plasma and the solar wind erupted from the Sun. The inflation of the magnetic field by plasma was proposed by group of the University of Washington. The characteristics of this propulsion system are high specific impulse and high thrust to power ratio. So we suggest applying this propulsion system to deep space missions. We compared two propulsion system; magneto plasma sail and solar electric propulsion, and confirmed that the magneto-plasma sail is useful for the flyby mission, but not so useful for the rendezvous mission compared to solar electric propulsion unless the thrust can be controlled.