Smart Dust Option for Geomagnetic Tail Exploration
| Autor: | Lorenzo Niccolai, Giovanni Mengali, Alessandro A. Quarta |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
business.industry
Computer science femto solar sail Aerospace Engineering Astronomy and Astrophysics Solar sail Propulsion smart dust geomagnetic tail exploration Acceleration Earth's magnetic field Space and Planetary Science Physics::Space Physics Line (geometry) Orbit (dynamics) Precession Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics smart dust femto solar sail electrochromic control system geomagnetic tail exploration Aerospace engineering business Apse line electrochromic control system |
| Popis: | In-situ measurements are necessary for a long-term analysis of the spatial structure of the geomagnetic tail. This type of mission requires the use of a propellantless propulsion system, such as a classical solar sail, to continuously rotate the design orbit apse line such that it remains parallel to the Sun-Earth direction. To reduce the mission costs, this paper suggests the employment of Sun-pointing smart dusts, which are here investigated in terms of propulsive acceleration level necessary to guarantee a mission’s feasibility. A Sun-pointing smart dust can be thought of as a millimeter-scale solar sail, whose geometric configuration allows it to passively maintain an alignment with the Sun-spacecraft line. The smart dust external surface is coated with an electrochromic reflective film in such a way that it may change, within some limits, its propulsive acceleration magnitude. A suitable control law is necessary for the smart dust to enable an artificial precession of its Earth-centred orbit, similar to what happens in the GeoSail mission. This paper analyzes the required control law using an optimal approach. In particular, the proposed mathematical model provides a set of approximate equations that allow a simple and effective tradeoff analysis between the propulsive requirements, in terms of the smart dust acceleration, and the characteristics of the design orbit. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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