Gyro-Control of a Solar Sailing Satellite

Abstract

Recent successes in the deployment of sails in space have reduced the risk associated with solar sailing missions. The attitude control requirements for a solar sailing mission is low with only slow attitude maneuvers needed to maintain a stable attitude and produce a required solar thrust. Future science missions will require large attitude maneuvers with a fully deployed sail. This article investigates the current options for attitude control on solar sails and proposes a gyro-controlled solar sailing. This concept uses a spinning solar sail to construct a control moment gyroscope capable to produce large torques. Steering laws for performing attitude maneuvers and simulation results are presented which demonstrates the capabilities of such a solution.