The concept of solar sails is not very new – just look at the LightSail 2 of the Planetary Society, the French startup Gama or NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System. But a group of researchers is taking technology to new heights.
The Diffractive Solar Sailing project has received Phase III status in NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which comes with a $ 2 million budget to implement the team’s concept.
Solar sails are a means of propulsion for spacecraft, which work similarly to sailboats, but instead of being powered by wind, they are powered by light. Diffraction solar sails, such as those developed by NIAC, are a more effective evolution of traditional solar sails, which could one day support space missions.
“Diffraction panels are based on the optical diffraction mechanism, while the traditional solar panels we’ve seen are based on the law of reflection,” said Amber Dubill, project manager at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, for TechCrunch.
As before, the photons hitting the sail give momentum to the spacecraft, but Dubill’s team is working on a new twist on this proven technology:
The advantage of using diffraction to do this instead of reflection is the ability to adjust the angle at which the incoming light is redirected so that the resulting force is more effective for orbital maneuvers without having to fix a large fragile structure.
The Diffractive Solar Sailing project has already completed Phase I and Phase II of the NIAC program, NASA’s high-risk, high-reward incubator that explores the possibilities of unusual technology in space. These first phases are dedicated to developing concepts and proving their potential. However, Phase III makes the concepts a reality. (Aside: since the creation of NIAC in 2012, only five projects have received Phase III status, as most projects do not demonstrate enough potential in Phases I and II for NASA to continue.)
Dubil and her team will use the $ 2 million funding to design and manufacture canvas materials, which they plan to test at various facilities across the country over the next two years.
“In parallel, we plan to develop a vision for a solar polar orbit mission by establishing optimal trajectories and controlling the sail’s relationship to achieve solar observations of a payload set dictated by our heliophysicists,” says Dubil. “By expanding the diffraction design and developing the overall concept of the sailing ship, the goal is to lay the foundations for a future demonstration mission using diffraction light technology.
This mission in solar polar orbit is of particular interest to NASA, as the poles of our star have not yet been studied. “Getting a complete picture of the solar corona and surface magnetic fields is crucial for forecasting and awareness of space weather, and the constellation of instrumental orbits around the sun would not only improve our understanding of our nearest star, but increase time. to warn of solar events that could damage satellites and ground systems, “Mike LaPoint, NIAC’s chief executive, told TechCrunch.
The same technology can be used in similar missions throughout the solar system, suggests LaPointe. With such potential, it is no wonder that NASA has funded the diffraction solar navigation project – now it just has to come out of the ground.
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