Invited Article: Electric solar wind sail: Toward test missions

被引：134

作者：

Janhunen, P. ^{[1
]}

Toivanen, P. K. ^{[1
]}

Polkko, J. ^{[1
]}

Merikallio, S. ^{[1
]}

Salminen, P. ^{[2
]}

Haeggstrom, E. ^{[3
]}

Seppanen, H. ^{[3
]}

Kurppa, R. ^{[1
]}

Ukkonen, J. ^{[3
]}

Kiprich, S. ^{[4
]}

Thornell, G. ^{[5
]}

Kratz, H. ^{[5
]}

Richter, L. ^{[6
]}

Kroemer, O. ^{[7
]}

Rosta, R. ^{[7
]}

Noorma, M. ^{[8
,9
]}

Envall, J. ^{[9
]}

Loett, S. ^{[9
]}

Mengali, G. ^{[10
]}

Quarta, A. A. ^{[10
]}

Koivisto, H. ^{[11
]}

Tarvainen, O. ^{[11
]}

Kalvas, T. ^{[11
]}

Kauppinen, J. ^{[11
]}

Nuottajarvi, A. ^{[11
]}

Obraztsov, A. ^{[12
,13
]}

机构：

[1] Finnish Meteorol Inst, FIN-00100 Helsinki, Finland

[2] SkyTron, FI-37800 Akaa, Finland

[3] Univ Helsinki, Dept Phys, FI-00560 Helsinki, Finland

[4] Kharkov Inst Phys & Technol, Natl Sci Ctr, UA-61108 Kharkov, Ukraine

[5] Angstrom Space Technol Ctr, SE-75121 Uppsala, Sweden

[6] Utopia Consultancies, D-53347 Alfter, Germany

[7] German Aerosp Ctr, D-28359 Bremen, Germany

[8] Univ Tartu, EE-50090 Tartu, Estonia

[9] Tartu Observ, EE-61602 Toravere, Estonia

[10] Univ Pisa, I-56122 Pisa, Italy

[11] Univ Jyvaskyla, FI-40014 Jyvaskyla, Finland

[12] Univ Eastern Finland Joensuu, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland

[13] Moscow MV Lomonosov State Univ, Moscow 119991, Russia

来源：

REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS | 2010年 / 81卷 / 11期

基金：

芬兰科学院;

关键词：

SPACECRAFT PROPULSION;

D O I：

10.1063/1.3514548

中图分类号：

TH7 [仪器、仪表];

学科分类号：

0804 ; 080401 ; 081102 ;

摘要：

The electric solar wind sail (E-sail) is a space propulsion concept that uses the natural solar wind dynamic pressure for producing spacecraft thrust. In its baseline form, the E-sail consists of a number of long, thin, conducting, and centrifugally stretched tethers, which are kept in a high positive potential by an onboard electron gun. The concept gains its efficiency from the fact that the effective sail area, i.e., the potential structure of the tethers, can be millions of times larger than the physical area of the thin tethers wires, which offsets the fact that the dynamic pressure of the solar wind is very weak. Indeed, according to the most recent published estimates, an E-sail of 1 N thrust and 100 kg mass could be built in the rather near future, providing a revolutionary level of propulsive performance (specific acceleration) for travel in the solar system. Here we give a review of the ongoing technical development work of the E-sail, covering tether construction, overall mechanical design alternatives, guidance and navigation strategies, and dynamical and orbital simulations. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3514548]

引用

页数：11

共 21 条

[1] Self-consistent 2-D kinetic simulations of high-voltage plasma sheaths surrounding ion-attracting conductive cylinders in flowing plasmas [J].