Electric solar wind sail mass budget model
The electric solar wind sail (E-sail) is a new type of propellantless propulsion system for Solar System transportation, which uses the natural solar wind to produce spacecraft propulsion. The E-sail consists of thin centrifugally stretched tethers that are kept charged by an onboard electron gun an...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2013-02-01
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| Series: | Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems |
| Online Access: | http://www.geosci-instrum-method-data-syst.net/2/85/2013/gi-2-85-2013.pdf |
| Summary: | The electric solar wind sail (E-sail) is a new type of propellantless propulsion system for Solar System transportation, which uses the natural solar wind to produce spacecraft propulsion. The E-sail consists of thin centrifugally stretched tethers that are kept charged by an onboard electron gun and, as such, experience Coulomb drag through the high-speed solar wind plasma stream. This paper discusses a mass breakdown and a performance model for an E-sail spacecraft that hosts a mission-specific payload of prescribed mass. In particular, the model is able to estimate the total spacecraft mass and its propulsive acceleration as a function of various design parameters such as the number of tethers and their length. A number of subsystem masses are calculated assuming existing or near-term E-sail technology. In light of the obtained performance estimates, an E-sail represents a promising propulsion system for a variety of transportation needs in the Solar System. |
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| ISSN: | 2193-0856 2193-0864 |