Solar sailing is a promising propellant-free approach to propelling spacecraft in space.However, the propelling efficiency of conventional solar sail spacecraft is limited by their areato-mass ratios. This paper propo...Solar sailing is a promising propellant-free approach to propelling spacecraft in space.However, the propelling efficiency of conventional solar sail spacecraft is limited by their areato-mass ratios. This paper proposes a novel design of micro solar sails with area-to-mass ratios above 100 m^(2)/kg for next-generation chip-scale spacecraft. Bilayer thin films developed by Microelectromechanical Systems(MEMS) technologies were patterned into grid microstructures, and theoretical analysis of a sail prototype was conducted. The electro-thermal and thermo-mechanical models of the solar sail in geospace were established by taking effects of Joule heating, solar radiation, and thermal re-emission into consideration, enabling rapid prediction of its threedimensional(3-D) reconfiguration from the as-released two-dimensional(2-D) microstructure.Adjustment of the Chip Sail's acceleration arising from the sail's morphing was also analytically modeled. Fabrication and characterization of the sail prototype made of multiple Al/Ni_(50)Ti_(50) bilayer beams were accomplished. In-situ SEM imaging of the sail prototype in vacuum chamber witnessed an active and continuous 3-D reconfiguration under Joule heating, and over 90° deformation was detected by applying a DC voltage of 0.078 V. Theoretical and experimental work on the solar sail with at least 10 times higher area-to-mass ratios than conventional ones will lay a solid foundation for efficient solar sailing.展开更多
基金Supported by Excellent Youth Science Fund Project(Overseas)of Shandong Province,China(No.2023HWYQ-029)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2023MD744219)+3 种基金Zhejiang Province Selected Funding for Postdoctoral Research Projects,China(No.ZJ2023040)Youth Project of Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province,China(No.ZR2023QE127)China National University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Program(No.202310422009)Major Basic Research Program of the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province,China(No.ZR2019ZD08).This research was in part carried out at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials(CFN),Brookhaven National Laboratory(BNL),which is supported by the U.S.Department of Energy,Office of Basic Energy Sciences,under Contract No.DE-SC0012704.
文摘Solar sailing is a promising propellant-free approach to propelling spacecraft in space.However, the propelling efficiency of conventional solar sail spacecraft is limited by their areato-mass ratios. This paper proposes a novel design of micro solar sails with area-to-mass ratios above 100 m^(2)/kg for next-generation chip-scale spacecraft. Bilayer thin films developed by Microelectromechanical Systems(MEMS) technologies were patterned into grid microstructures, and theoretical analysis of a sail prototype was conducted. The electro-thermal and thermo-mechanical models of the solar sail in geospace were established by taking effects of Joule heating, solar radiation, and thermal re-emission into consideration, enabling rapid prediction of its threedimensional(3-D) reconfiguration from the as-released two-dimensional(2-D) microstructure.Adjustment of the Chip Sail's acceleration arising from the sail's morphing was also analytically modeled. Fabrication and characterization of the sail prototype made of multiple Al/Ni_(50)Ti_(50) bilayer beams were accomplished. In-situ SEM imaging of the sail prototype in vacuum chamber witnessed an active and continuous 3-D reconfiguration under Joule heating, and over 90° deformation was detected by applying a DC voltage of 0.078 V. Theoretical and experimental work on the solar sail with at least 10 times higher area-to-mass ratios than conventional ones will lay a solid foundation for efficient solar sailing.
