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Investigation Into The Mitigation Of The Effects Of Uncertain Optical Degradation On An Interplanetary Solar Sail Mission Using A Single Model Update, Jordan Smiroldo
Investigation Into The Mitigation Of The Effects Of Uncertain Optical Degradation On An Interplanetary Solar Sail Mission Using A Single Model Update, Jordan Smiroldo
Master's Theses
The renewed academic interest in using solar sails as a source of spacecraft propulsion has been accompanied by a recent fervor of investigations into non-ideal and off-nominal sail performance considerations. One of the most influential considerations, uncertain optical degradation, has been shown to present significant trajectory design difficulties. This paper investigates the potential of using a mid-course degradation model update to mitigate the risk of missing the target destination in a sample 300 day Earth-Venus trajectory. Using a range of potential degradation profiles, it is shown that correcting in the first half of the mission is highly likely to result …