Home > ASTRODYNAMICS > Vol. 4 (2020) > Iss. 3
Article Title
Solar power sail mission of OKEANOS
Keywords
solar power sail, Trojan asteroid, landing, in-situ analysis, outer solar system, OKEANOS
Abstract
The solar power sail is an original Japanese concept in which electric power is generatedby thin-film solar cells attached on the solar sail membrane. Japan Aerospace ExplorationAgency (JAXA) successfully demonstrated the world’s first solar power sail technologythrough IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun) missionin 2010. IKAROS demonstrated photon propulsion and power generation using thin-filmsolar cells during its interplanetary cruise. Scaled up, solar power sails can generate enoughpower to drive high specific impulse ion thrusters in the outer planetary region. With thisconcept, we propose a landing or sample return mission to directly explore a Jupiter Trojanasteroid using solar power sail-craft OKEANOS (Oversize Kite-craft for Exploration andAstroNautics in the Outer Solar System). After rendezvousing with a Trojan asteroid, alander separates from OKEANOS to collect samples, and perform in-situ analyses in threeproposed mission sequences, including sending samples back to Earth. This paper proposesa system design for OKEANOS and includes analyses of the latest mission.
Publisher
Tsinghua University Press
Recommended Citation
Osamu Mori, Jun Matsumoto, Toshihiro Chujo et al. Solar power sail mission of OKEANOS.Astrodyn.2020, 4(3): 233–248.