Families of Displaced non-Keplerian Polar Orbits for Space-Based Solar Energy Applications

Abstract

Orbiting Solar Reflectors (OSRs) can be used to reflect sunlight locally to terrestrial solar power plants to enhance solar energy generation. Displaced polar orbits can, in principle, change the geometry of passes of OSR over terrestrial solar power plants. Such non-Keplerian orbits can be obtained by orienting the reflector at a fixed pitch angle with respect to the Sun-line, such that the solar radiation pressure (SRP) induced force would shift the orbit plane in the anti-Sun line. This, in principle, would allow extending night-time or high-latitude solar energy delivery without eclipses. This paper investigates a range of displaced highly non-Keplerian orbits for OSRs and assesses their operational use. Displaced polar orbits are generated in the two-body problem using a rotating reference frame considering the Earth's oblateness up to J₂ and the SRP force. Their stability is reviewed and an optimal control scheme is presented with reflector area control. As a novel application, a compound reflector system is proposed, which consists of a large Sun-facing parabolic collector in a polar orbit displaced in the anti-Sun direction and a smaller free-flying flat director placed near the focus of the parabolic collector, displaced by the reflected SRP in the Sun direction. The conditions for the synchronized motion and the sizing of the reflectors are investigated. The quantity of solar energy delivered to the Earth is calculated for both the compound and single reflector systems and it is shown that the displaced polar orbits could enhance solar energy delivery significantly.