As NASA’s exploration continues to push boundaries, a new solar sail concept has been selected by the agency to develop towards a demonstration mission that could take science to new destinations.
The Diffractive Solar Sailing project has been selected for Phase III research as part of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. Phase III aims to strategically transform NIAC concepts with the highest potential impact for NASA, other government agencies or commercial partners.
Diffraction solar sails, depicted in this concept illustration, could enable missions to hard-to-reach places, like orbiting the Sun’s poles.
Credit: MacKenzi Martin
“As we venture further into space than ever before, we’ll need innovative, innovative technologies to advance our missions,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program helps unlock visionary ideas – like novel solar sails – and bring them closer to reality.”
Just as a sailboat uses wind power to sail across the ocean, solar sails use the pressure exerted by sunlight to propel a boat through space. Current reflective solar sail designs are typically very large and very thin, and they are limited by the direction of sunlight, forcing a balance between energy and navigation. Diffraction lamp tails will use small gratings embedded in thin films to take advantage of a property of light called diffraction, which causes light to spread as it passes through a narrow aperture. This would allow the spacecraft to more efficiently use sunlight without sacrificing maneuverability.
“Exploring space means we need new tools, new ideas,” said Jim Reuter, deputy administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. and new ways. “Our goal is to invest in those technologies throughout their lifecycle to support a strong innovation ecosystem.”
From human deep space exploration to advanced propulsion and robotics, NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts aims to change what’s possible by supporting research into what early space technology is possible. completely change the future.
Credit: NASA
The new Phase III award will award the team $2 million over two years to further develop the technology in preparation for a potential future demonstration mission. The project is led by Amber Dubill of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
“NIAC enables us to advance some of the most innovative technological concepts in aerospace,” said Mike LaPointe, acting program manager for the NIAC at NASA Headquarters. “Our goal is to change that possibility, and diffraction solar sailing holds the promise of doing so for some exciting new mission applications.”
Diffraction illuminators will expand the capabilities of solar sails beyond what is possible with missions under development today. The project is led by Amber Dubill of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The feasibility of this concept has previously been studied under the NIAC Phase I and Phase II awards, led by Dr. Grover Swartzlander of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, who continues to be the project’s co-investigator. judgment, leading. Les Johnson, who leads two of NASA’s upcoming solar sail missions at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is also a co-investigator. Following previous awards, the team has designed, created and tested different types of diffraction sail materials; conducted experiments; and design new navigation and control plans for the potential diffracted light mission orbiting the Sun’s poles.
Work on Phase III will optimize sail materials and perform ground tests to support this conceptual solar mission. It is very difficult to achieve an orbit over the north and south poles of the Sun using conventional spacecraft propulsion. Mildly diffracted tail lights, fueled by the constant pressure of sunlight, could place a constellation of scientific spacecraft in orbit around the Sun’s poles to advance our understanding of the Sun. sky and improve our ability to predict space weather.
“Solar diffraction sailing is a modern method based on decades old vision of lights. While this technology could improve countless mission architectures, it is poised to dramatically impact the needs of the birthday community for unique solar observability,” Dubill said. “With our team’s combined expertise in optics, aerospace, conventional solar boating, and metamaterials, we hope to enable scientists to see the Sun as it is. ever had before”.
NIAC supports visionary research ideas through a variety of advancements research phase. NASA announced 17 Phases I and II proposal selection in February 2022. NIAC is funded by NASA’s STMD, which is responsible for developing the new cross-cutting technologies and capabilities the agency needs to achieve its current and future missions.
The source: NASA
