ASSESSMENT OF PASSIVE AND ACTIVE SOLAR SAILING STRATEGIES FOR END-OF-LIFE RE-ENTRY

摘要

This study focuses on the end-of-life disposal using a solar sail or a deplorable reflective surface to increase the Area-to-Mass of the spacecraft and enhance the effects of solar radiation pressure. While the effect of drag can be enhanced by maximising the cross area to the velocity vector, the effect of solar radiation pressure can be exploited from higher altitude orbits in two different ways. Conventional active solar sailing for deorbiting aims at maximising the cross area of the sail perpendicular to the spacecraft-Sun direction when the spacecraft is moving towards the Sun, while the sail area is minimised when the spacecraft is flying away from the Sun. A second strategy keeps the reflective surface always oriented towards the Sun and control it though passive stabilisation. The passive and active solar sailing techniques are compared to determine the most efficient deorbiting strategy under a maximum deorbiting time constraint. An optimisation algorithm is implemented to find the best deorbiting parameters required (i.e. surface area and time to deorbit). Maps of the best deorbiting parameters for active/passive solar sailing are obtained.