Characterising the Post-Collision Tumbling Dynamics and Attitude Control Retrieval of Solar-Sails

Abstract

Solar-sailing is a promising propellant-free propulsion method leveraging the momentum of photons to generate a thrust force, making them attractive for long-term missions both in Earth-bound and interplanetary space. In Earth orbit, solar-sails have been envisioned for space debris removal missions aiming to de-orbit multiple defunct satellites. However, their large sail area make them vulnerable to hypervelocity impacts with debris, potentially causing loss of attitude control. Therefore, this thesis presents a study of the long-term effects of tumbling on a sail's orbit and of the capability of a modern vane attitude control system to time-optimally stabilise the attitude motion. The tumbling dynamics result in an orbital eccentricity growth which is independent of the tumbling rate, potentially leading to a re-entry of the sail. The vane system is capable of detumbling rotational velocities up to 26 deg/s. For rotational velocities up to 8 deg/s, this system is capable of detumbling the sailcraft at a linear rate of 2 deg/s per day. For larger rotational velocities, the duration of the detumbling manoeuvre grows non-linearly. These results are considered for the specific case study of hypervelocity impacts and the sensitivity of the results to the sail reflectance model, the orbital regime, and the number of degrees of freedom of the vanes is assessed.