Technology Requirements of Exploration beyond Neptune by Solar Sail Propulsion
Malcolm Macdonald*, Colin McInnes,† Gareth Hughes‡, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XJ, Scotland, E.U.
This paper provides a set of requirements for the technology development of a solar sail
propelled Interstellar Heliopause Probe mission. The mission is placed in the context of
other outer solar systems missions, ranging from a Kuiper Belt mission through to an Oort
cloud mission. Mission requirements are defined and a detailed parametric trajectory
analysis and launch date scan performed. Through analysis of the complete mission trade
space a set of critical technology development requirements are identified which include an
advanced lightweight composite High-Gain Antenna, a high-efficiency Ka-band travelling-
wave tube amplifier and a radioisotope thermoelectric generator with power density of
approximately 12 W/kg. It is also shown that the Interstellar Heliopause Probe mission
necessitates the use of a spinning sail, limiting the direct application of current hardware
development activities. A Kuiper Belt mission is then considered as a pre-curser to the
Interstellar Heliopause Probe, while it is also shown through study of an Oort cloud mission
that the Interstellar Heliopause Probe mission is the likely end-goal of any future solar sail
technology development program. As such, the technology requirements identified to enable
the Interstellar Heliopause Probe must be enabled through all prior missions, with each
mission acting as an enabling facilitator towards the next.
* Associate Director, Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering. [email protected], Associate Fellow of the AIAA. † Director, Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering. [email protected], Member of the AIAA. ‡ Visiting Researcher, Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
1 Nomenclature A = Solar sail reflective surface area, m2
2 as = Solar sail characteristic acceleration, defined in Ref. 1, mm/s
2 2 C3 = Launch energy, km /sec mp = Spacecraft mass minus solar sail sub-system, kg msf = Mass fraction of the spacecraft which is not the solar sail sub-system
N = Number of Oort cloud objects encountered
P = Magnitude of solar radiation pressure on a perfectly absorbing surface at 1 AU, 4.56 10-6 N/m2 ra = Radius of aphelion, m rp = Radius of perihelion, m
R = Radius of sphere with within which Oort cloud objects will be encountered, m t = Time, sec v = Velocity at infinity, AU/yr
= Change in velocity
v = The sail lightness number, defined in Ref. 1
= Solar sail reflective efficiency, defined in Ref. 1
= Density, kg/m3
2 s = Solar sail assembly loading, defined in Ref. 1, g/m