Article Title
Solar sail H-reversal trajectory: A review of its advances and applications
Keywords
solar-photon sailing, sailcraft, lightness number, orbital H-reversal mode
Abstract
The set of the orbital angular-momentum reversal, or H-reversal, sailcraft trajectory wasborn as a type of unconventional precursor interstellar mission trajectory by using high-performance solar sails. Starting from an outline of the H-reversal sail trajectory, this papermainly focuses on the 2D reversal-mode solution to the general solar-photon sail motionequations. The feasible region for H-reversal trajectories in fixed sail attitude angles isillustrated. Some interesting applications of the H-reversal trajectory are presented in detailto show its advantages. As a special case, a precursor interstellar probe can be delivered witha constant sail orientation in the H-reversal trajectory to be compared with the direct-motionsail flyby of the Sun. Of importance are the heliocentric periodic orbits in double H-reversalmodes, obtained via both fixed and time-varying sail attitude angles. Two more applicationsinvolving H-reversal trajectories are discussed in terms of asteroid deflection and transfertrajectory to rectilinear orbits. Finally, some items of the mathematics behind the 3Dmotion-reversal trajectories are summarized.
Publisher
Tsinghua University Press
Recommended Citation
Xiangyuan Zeng,Giovanni Vulpetti,Christian Circi,Solar sail H-reversal trajectory: A review of its advances and applications.Astrodyn.2019, 3(1): 1–15.