• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.421-427
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• 2012

Solar Sail propulsion has been validated in space (IKAROS, 2010) and soon several more solar-sail propelled spacecraft will be flown. Using sunlight for spacecraft propulsion is not a new idea. First proposed by Frederick Tsander and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the 1920's, NASA's Echo 1 balloon, launched in 1960, was the first spacecraft for which the effects of solar photon pressure were measured. Solar sails reflect sunlight to achieve thrust, thus eliminating the need for costly and often very-heavy fuel. Such "propellantless" propulsion will enable whole new classes of space science and exploration missions previously not considered possible due to the propulsive-intense maneuvers and operations required.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.579-592
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• 2016

CNUSAIL-1, to be launched into low-earth orbit, is a cubesat-class satellite equipped with a $2m{\times}2m$ solar sail. One of CNUSAIL's missions is to deploy its solar sail system, thereby deorbiting the satellite, at the end of the satellite's life. This paper presents the design results of the attitude control system for CNUSAIL-1, which maintains the normal vector of the sail by a 3-axis active attitude stabilization approach. The normal vector can be aligned in two orientations: i) along the anti-nadir direction, which minimizes the aerodynamic drag during the nadir-pointing mode, or ii) along the satellite velocity vector, which maximizes the drag during the deorbiting mode. The attitude control system also includes a B-dot controller for detumbling and an eigen-axis maneuver algorithm. The actuators for the attitude control are magnetic torquers and reaction wheels. The feasibility and performance of the design are verified in high-fidelity nonlinear simulations.

• Current Industrial and Technological Trends in Aerospace
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.24-30
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• 2010

Space solar sails are a form of spacecraft propulsion using the radiation pressure of light from a star or laser to push enormous ultra-thin mirrors to high speeds. With respect to it, U.S.A, Japan, E.U. and Russia, etc. have performed a substantial research and the space flight test. On May 2010, JAXA succeeded in launching the world's first interplanetary solar sail spacecraft "IKAROS" to Venus. Currently, solar sail propulsion is aimed chiefly at accomplishing a number of non-crewed missions in any part of the solar system and beyond. This paper presents the technology trend of advanced countries on the development of the solar sails as a new propulsion method for the space investigation and travel.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.583-588
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• 2008

A spacecraft propulsion system utilizing the energy of the solar wind was reviewed. The first plasma sail concept was proposed by Prof. Winglee in 2000, and that was called M2P2(mini-magnetospheric plasmapropulsion). However, the first M2P2 design adopting a small(20-cm-diamter) coil and a small helicon plasma source design was criticized by Dr. Khazanov in 2003. He insisted that: 1) MHD is not an appropriate approximation to describe the M2P2 design by Winglee, and with ion kinetic simulation, it was shown that the M2P2 design could provide only negligible thrust; 2) considerably larger sails(than that Winglee proposed) would be required to tap the energy of the solar wind. We started our plasma ssail study in 2003, and it is shown that moderately sized magnetic sails can produce sub-Newton-class thrust in the ion inertial scale(${\sim}70$ km). Currently, we are continuing our efforts to make a feasibly sized plasma sail(Magnetoplasma sail) by optimizing the magnetic field inflation process Winglee proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.495-504
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• 2014

Solar sail spacecrafts can gain propulsion using the momentum change through reflecting the photon packets of energy from the Sun. The sail slowly but continuously accelerates to accomplish a wide-range of potential missions. To develop the potential mission of the solar sail, the configuration, the film characteristics and the deployment devices should be carefully considered. In this paper, recent development and activities of the solar sail are introduced and design technology of the sail subsystem is investigated.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2016

As a new technical approach, an attempt was made to realize a photovoltaic system for an eco-environmental leisure ship by simultaneously actuating nine photovoltaic solar panels in association with the application of a sail-controlling system using wind energy. In this approach, the photovoltaic system consisted of a solar module, an inverter, a battery, and the relevant components, while the sail-controlling device was equipped with sail up/down and mast turning systems. The previously mentioned eco-environmental leisure ship utilizes a photovoltaic hybrid system that uses solar and wind energy as renewable energy sources. Furthermore, this research included a performance evaluation of the manufactured prototype, the acquisition of the purposed quantity values, and development of the purposed items. The significant items, including the sail up/down speed (seconds) and mast turning angle (degrees) were evaluated for a performance test. A wind direction sensitivity of 90% and maximum instant charging power of 900 W were also obtained in the process of the performance evaluation. In addition, the maximum sail time was also evaluated in order to acquire the optimum value. The performance evaluation showed that the prototype with a photovoltaic hybrid system was suitable for sailing an eco-environmental leisure ship using solar and wind energy.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.228-239
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• 2016

CNUSAIL-1 is a 3U-sized cube satellite with $4m^2$ small solar sail which is currently being developed at the Chungnam National University. The primary purpose of the CNUSAIL-1 is successful sail deployment in LEO and its operation for investigating its effect on satellite orbit and attitude as well as performing de-orbiting using the sail membranes as drag sail at the final phase. The system design and mechanism of solar sail deployment is introduced, and optical and tensile tests are carried out for the material of membranes and booms for its safety and performance verification. The ground test is carried out to verify its performance for sail deployment and satellite through comparison between folding methods by determining its folding patterns, thickness of spiral spring and angular velocity measurement in a low-friction environment.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

Frozen orbit is an attractive option for orbital design owing to its characteristics (its argument of pericenter and eccentricity are kept constant on an average). Solar sails are attractive solutions for massive and expensive missions. However, the solar radiation pressure effect represents an additional force on the solar sail that may greatly affect its orbital behavior in the long run. Thus, this force must be included as a perturbation force in the dynamical model for more accuracy. This study shows the calculations of initial conditions for a lunar solar sail frozen orbit. The disturbing function of the problem was developed to include the lunar gravitational field that is characterized by uneven mass distribution, third body perturbation, and the effect of solar radiation. An averaging technique was used to reduce the dynamical problem to a long period system. Lagrange planetary equations were utilized to formulate the rate of change of the argument of pericenter and eccentricity. Using the reduced system, frozen orbits for the Moon sail orbiter were constructed. The resulting frozen orbits are shown by two 3Dsurface (semi-major, eccentricity, inclination) figures. To simplify the analysis, we showed inclination-eccentricity contours for different values of semi-major axis, argument of pericenter, and values of sail lightness number.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.770-778
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• 2013

Solar sail propulsion uses solar radiation pressure to propel spacecraft without propellant, and it is useful for deep-space missions and continuos orbit maneuver missions. After a brief introduction of solar sail dynamics, locally optimal trajectories in Sun-centered and Earth-centered orbits are analyzed. Numerical simulations for the optimal trajectories are performed. Trajectory for the rendezvous with Halley comet is generated, and different planet escape methods are compared.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.240-248
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• 2016

As a new technical approach, the achievement of an eco-environmental leisure boat with a photovoltaic system is attempted by simultaneously actuating nine photovoltaic solar panels, in association with an applied sail control system by use of wind. In this approach, the photovoltaic system consists of a solar module, an inverter, a battery, and relevant components, while the sail control device is equipped with a sail up/down and mast-turning instrument. Furthermore, this research conducts a performance evaluation of the manufactured prototype and acquires the purposed quantity value and the development purpose items. The significant items-sail up/down speed (seconds) and mast turning angle (degrees)-are evaluated during the performance test. In the process of the performance evaluation, a wind direction sensitivity of 90% and a maximum instant charging power of 900 W were also obtained. In addition, the maximum sail time is evaluated in order to acquire the optimum quantity.