Solar Sailing Q-Law for Planetocentric, Many-Revolution Sail Orbit Transfers

What is it about?

Solar sailing is a form of space propulsion that leverages a natural force induced by the sunlight to propel spacecraft without consuming fuel. Due to its attractive propulsion capability, a number of technical demonstrations of the concept have been successfully implemented in space. However, there remain some critical technical challenges for this concept to be fully leveraged for space science and planetary exploration. This article addresses one of such technical challenges, orbit transfer with many revolutions, to contribute to furthering the possibilities of this enabling space travel technology for space exploration.

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