12-03, 10:20–10:40 (Europe/Luxembourg), Banquet Room
Background
Following the symposium “Large area structures & light” by the Deep Space Exploration Program at the University of Tokyo and the Breakthrough Initiatives in September 2023, an international working group was established. It focuses on identifying synergies among space sail technologies as a pathway towards practical interplanetary and interstellar missions.
Objective
The objective of this study is to answer two questions. Firstly, how big is the technological gap between present state-of-the-art space sailing and future proposed interstellar missions? Secondly, what are the major risk areas, and how can eventual bottlenecks be overcome?
Methods
These questions are addressed through a focus on three planned missions with different Technology Readiness Levels, different types of stakeholders and different destinations: Solar Cruiser, Project Svarog and Breakthrough Starshot. Gaps between these missions and currently achievable technologies on subsystem- and system-levels are assessed using the Advancement Degree of Difficulty (AD2) scale, and potential ways forward are proposed. A database of parameters achievable with present technologies is obtained from prior work by the authors.
Results
When comparing mission requirements with the current state-of-the-art, the maximum scaling of key parameters such as total sail loading and deployed area required by Solar Cruiser, Project Svarog and Breakthrough Starshot are generally found to be factors of 3, 10 and 600 respectively. It is however noted that the amount of risk of advancing the technology to the required level grows significantly when stepping from Solar Cruiser to Project Svarog and to Breakthrough Starshot. Key risk areas for each mission are mapped out, with attitude control, sail material, shape accuracy and subsystem integration being identified as major risk areas. Alternatives to technologies in these high-risk areas are summarized.
Conclusions
It is concluded that although linear extrapolation predicts that the outlined missions should be feasible with development of current technology, bottlenecks may arise in areas of high risk. It is highlighted that testing of high-risk components in intended environments is essential for lowering the AD2 levels. Moreover, cross-sectoral collaboration and cross-pollination between different types of space sails as well as other technologies is highlighted as a key to finding alternatives to high-risk technologies.
I am a Master's student in Aeronautics with Spacecraft Engineering at Imperial College London, UK. I also serve as the Lead Engineer at Project Svarog, a student-led initiative to send the first civilian interstellar object to space: a CubeSat powered by solar-sailing technology. My research interest spans the fields of spacecraft systems, astrodynamics and technology development.
I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan, in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. My research focus is on the dynamics of small satellites in low Earth orbit, applied to mission design for easier access to space via solar sails and drag sails. I am also actively involved in research on space capacity building and the history of space development.
Andreas Hein is an associate professor of space systems engineering at the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Center for Security, Reliability, and Trust (SnT). He works on space systems that are miniaturized and distributed, including ChipSats and CubeSats, operated in swarms and formations, in-space manufacturing, and in-situ resource utilization.
Andreas is also the Executive Director and Director Technical Programs of the UK-based not-for-profit Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is), where he is coordinating and contributing to research on diverse topics such as missions to interstellar objects, laser sail probes, self-replicating spacecraft, and world ships. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Technical University of Munich and conducted his PhD research on space systems engineering there and at MIT. He has published over 70 articles in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences.