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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Near Earth Asteroid Scout Solar Sail Engineering Development Unit Test Program
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Concurrent Mission Design of NEA Scout and Lunar Flashlight, Solar Sail Cubesat Missions
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Near Earth Asteroid Scout - NASA's First Interplanetary Solar Sail Mission
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Solar Sailing: Technology and Mission Opportunities
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Streamlining the ACS3 Solar Sail Manufacturing Process
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Thin-Ply Composite Deployable Boom Structures For Solar Sails
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Streamlining the Solar Sail Membrane Manufacturing Process for ACS3
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Robust Solar Sail Trajectory Design under Uncertainty with Application to NEA Scout Mission
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Passive Roll Stabilization of the Near Earth Asteroid Scout Solar Sail Mission
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Navigation for the ACS3 Solar Sail Mission
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Configuration space and stability analysis of solar sail near-vertical earth-trailing orbits
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FeatherSail - The Next Generation Nano-Class Sail Vehicle
Solar sail propulsion is a concept, which will soon become a reality. Solar sailing is a method of space flight propulsion, which utilizes the light photons to propel spacecrafts through the vacuum of space. Solar sail vehicles have generally been designed to have a very large area. This requires significant time and expenditures to develop, test and launch such a vehicle. Several notable solar propulsion missions and experiments have been performed and more are still in the development stage. This concept will be tested in the near future with the launch of the NanoSail-D satellite. NanoSail-D is a nano-class satellite, less than 10kg, which will deploy a thin lightweight sheet of reflective material used to propel the satellite in its low earth orbit. The NanoSail-D solar sail design is used for the basic design concept for the next generation of nanoclass solar sail vehicles. The FeatherSail project was started to develop a solar sail vehicle with the capability to perform attitude control via rotating or feathering the solar sails. In addition to using the robust deployment method of the NanoSail-D system, the FeatherSail design incorporates other novel technologies. These technologies include deployable thin film solar arrays and low power, low temperature Silicon-Germanium electronics. Together, these three technological advancements provide a starting point for smaller class sail vehicles. These smaller solar sail vehicles provide a capability for inexpensive missions to explore beyond the realms of low earth orbit.
Nanophase and Composite Optical Materials
This talk will focus on accomplishments, current developments, and future directions of our work on composite optical materials for microgravity science and space exploration. This research spans the order parameter from quasi-fractal structures such as sol-gels and other aggregated or porous media, to statistically random cluster media such as metal colloids, to highly ordered materials such as layered media and photonic bandgap materials. The common focus is on flexible materials that can be used to produce composite or artificial materials with superior optical properties that could not be achieved with homogeneous materials. Applications of this work to NASA exploration goals such as terraforming, biosensors, solar sails, solar cells, and vehicle health monitoring, will be discussed.