Solar-Sail Attitude Control Design for a Flight Validation Mission

This paper presents the solar-sail attitude control system design for a solar-sail flight validation mission proposed in a dawn–dusk sun-synchronous orbit. The proposed solar-sail attitude control system architecture consists of a propellantless primary attitude control system and a microthruster-based secondary attitude control system. The primary attitude control system employs two ballast masses running alongmast lanyards for pitch/yaw trim control and roll stabilizer bars at themast tips for roll control. The secondary attitude control system uses lightweight pulsed plasma thruster modules mounted at the mast tips. Such a microthruster-based secondary attitude control system can be employed for attitude recovery maneuvers from various off-nominal conditions, including tumbling, that cannot be handled by the propellantless primary attitude control system. The overall simplicity, effectiveness, and robustness of the proposed solar-sail attitude control system architecture are demonstrated for a sailflight validation mission employing a 40-m, 150-kg sailcraft in a 1600-kmdawn–dusk sun-synchronous orbit. The proposed solar-sail attitude control systemwill be applicable with minimal modifications to a wide range of future solar-sailing missions with varying requirements and mission complexity.

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