Mission concept is to assess the feasibility of using solar sail propulsion to enable a robotic precursor that would survey multiple Near Earth Objects (NEOs) for potential future human visits. Single spacecraft will rendezvous with and image 3 NEOs within 6 years of launc

Alexander, Leslie

Fabisinski, Leo

Heaton, Andy

Johnson, Les

Miernik, Janie

Stough, Rob

Wright, Roosevelt

Young, Roy

NASA Technical Reports Server

1 
Multiple NEO 
Rendezvous Using 
Solar Sails 
Les Johnson 
MSFC Advanced Concepts Office 
www.nasa.gov 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20120015033 2019-08-30T22:23:14+00:00Z
2 
Overall Mission Concept 
• Assess the feasibility of using solar sail propulsion to 
enable a robotic precursor that would survey multiple 
Near Earth Objects (NEOs) for potential future human 
visits 
• Ground Rules 
– The solar sail should be the only technical risk 
 Baseline the sail technology demonstrated to TRL 5/6 by the NASA In-
Space Propulsion Technology Project and selected for flight by NASA 
OCT as a Technology Demonstration Mission 
 Use State-Of-the-Art (SOA) instruments 
 Use only flight-proven spacecraft systems and hardware 
– Single spacecraft will rendezvous with and image 3 NEOs within 6 
years of launch 
 
3 
Solar Sail Asteroid Rendezvous Mission: 
 
Departure: Aug 2017 
 
Candidate asteroids visited: 
 NEO Date Observation 
Period 
 1999 A010 Mar 2019 35 days 
 Apophis Dec 2021 30 days 
 2001 QJ142 July 2023
 30 days 
 
Spacecraft mass at destination: 
228.4 kg 
 
Cost:  
$175M, plus launch vehicle and ops 
 
Launch: Athena II 
4 
Solar Sail Propulsion Technology Status 
ATK 
Sunjammer 
• Two 20-m system ground demonstrations (ATK and L’Garde) designed, 
fabricated, and tested under thermal vacuum and flight-like conditions - 2005 
• IKAROS (JAXA) successfully flying in deep space – 2010 
• NanoSail-D flew in orbit (NASA MSFC) - 2010 
• L’Garde funded by NASA OCT to demonstrate deep space solar sail 
propulsion (Sunjammer) as a Technology Demonstration Mission in ~2014  
IKAROS 
NanoSail-D 
5 
5 
L’Garde 20-m System Ground Demonstrator (SGD) 
20-M SGD 
Sail Membrane 
Tip Vane 
Vane Mechanism Stowed Configuration 
Tip Mandrel 
Inflatable Beams 
6 
Deployed by FastSat Spacecraft 
PPOD Deployer 
(Cal-Poly) 
NanoSail-D 
(Aluminum Closeout Panels Not Shown) 
Spacecraft Bus 
(Ames Research Center) Boom & 
Sail Spool 
(ManTech 
SRS) Bus interfaces 
Actuation Electronics 
(MSFC/UAH) 
Stowed Configuration 
NanoSail-D Mission Configuration 
• 3U Cubesat: 10cm X 10cm X 34cm 
• Deployed CP-1 sail:10 m2 Sail Area (3.16 m side length) 
• 2.2 m Elgiloy Trac Booms 
• UHF & S-Band communications 
• Permanent Magnet Passive Stabilization 
NSD-001 NSD-002 
7 
Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by 
Radiation Of the Sun (IKAROS) 
• IKAROS was launched on May 21, 2010 
• The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) began 
to deploy the solar sail on June 3. 
• IKAROS has demonstrated deployment of a solar sailcraft, 
acceleration by photon pressure and attitude control 
•  Deployment was by centrifugal force  
• Sail membrane is 7.5 mm thick 
.  
  
  
Configuration / Body Diam. 1.6 m x Height 0.8 m (Cylinder shape) 
Configuration / Membrane Square 14 m and diagonal 20 m 
Weight Mass at liftoff: about 310 kg 
8 
TRL Assessment Methodology 
ATK 20M System 
Central Structure 
Masts 
Beams 
Sails 
Sails 
Central Structure 
L’Garde 20M System 
ACS 
ACS 
9 
NEO Spacecraft Camera:  
NEAR MultiSpectral Imager 
NEAR multispectral imaging system (MSI) 
• Consists of optical system and passively cooled 
Si CCD focal plane unit.   
• Designed to take images at various wavelengths 
of 433 Eros from orbit and fly by of 253 Mathilde 
• Also provides optical navigation for spacecraft  
Specifications: 
Mass: Camera head 5.05 kg; Supporting electronics, 4.5 kg 
Power: Camera head 2.16W; Electronics, 10.86 W 
Detector: Si CCD; Thompson-CSF TH7866 
Field of view: 2.25° X 2.9°, in 244 X 537 pixels = 3.9 X 5.1 km from 100-km distance 
Resolution: 9.5 X 16.1 m from 100-km distance 
Exposure time: to 999 ms in 25-ms increments, manual or automatic 
Wavelength range: 400-1100 nm 
Filter wavelengths: 1 broadband filter, 7 spectral filters at 450, 550, 760, 900, 950, 1000, 
and 1050 nm 
Data Character: 12-bit data, with three-tiered compression menu. 
Scientific objectives:  
• Map asteroid morphology and surface composition 
• Determine overall size, shape, and spin characteristics.  
10 
First Asteroid Selection 
-8 
-6 
-4 
-2 
0 
2 
4 
6 
8 
-200 
-150 
-100 
-50 
0 
50 
100 
150 
200 
2008 
EV5 
2009 HC 2009 CV 1999 
AO10 
2000 
SG344 
2003 
LN6 
1998 
HG49 
2001 
QJ142 
Apophis 
In
c
li
n
a
ti
o
n
 (
D
e
g
) 
P
h
a
s
e
 A
n
g
le
 (
D
e
g
) 
Earth Relative Phase and Inclination Angles 
for January 1, 2018 12:00 
Phase Angle ΔInclination 
11 
Long Term Mission Results 
• Time of Transfer (Rough Estimate) 
– From Earth to 1999 AO10 1.54 Years 
– Observation 35 Days 
– From 1999 AO10 to Apophis 2.5 Years (Conservative) 
– Observation 30 Days 
– From Apophis to 2001 QJ142 1.7 Years (Conservative) 
– Observation 30 Days 
 
• Total Time of Flight  ~6 Years 
– As observation time increases, the optimal selection of asteroids change 
– With refinement, total time will decrease 
12 
NEO SC Lower Bus Jettison 
Triad thrusters (4) 
 1 N2 gas bottle 
located in lower bus  
Central Structure/ 
Upper/Permanent 
bus; Solar Sails not 
shown 
SC 
Jettison 
bus 
Sail spindles will 
rotate 90 
degrees to clear 
separation plane 
Sail closeout panels 
will rotate 90 degrees 
to open and clear 
separation plane 
1.9 m 
13 
NEO Solar Sail SC Deployment 
Close-up forward view of SC bus with masts extended 
SC masts fully 
deployed 
85 m 
14 
Ground Rules and Assumptions 
1. The NAFCOM (NASA/Air Force Cost Model) was used to estimate the Solar Sail 
spacecraft costs herein. 
2. Messenger was used as the analogy. 
3. Cost estimate was based on ATK Solar Sail system ground demonstrators  
4. Technical data and mass properties were supplied by the Solar Sail proposal team. 
5. All Costs are estimated in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 dollars in millions based on NASA 
Inflation tables.   
6. System Test Hardware Costs represent proto-flight approach.  All applicable system 
integration (wrap) costs represent the wrap cost for one test unit. 
7. Costs associated with the DDT&E effort encompass the period from the beginning of 
full scale development through factory checkout of test vehicle. 
8. Individual subsystem totals contain all hardware costs and engineering and 
manufacturing labor costs charged to that subsystem. 
9. Fee is calculated at 10% of the spacecraft. 
10. Program Support (Level One PM, SE&I, and S&MA) cost are calculated at 20% of the 
spacecraft.  
11. Vehicle Integration costs are calculated at four percent of the spacecraft. 
12. Reserves are set at 30%. 
13. Launch and operation cost are not included. 
 
15 
Spacecraft Costs 
(2011$ in Millions) 
WBS ITEM DDT&E Flight Unit Total
Subsystem Level 36.1 40.7 76.8
Structures 7.5 1.5 9.0
Electrical Power 2.3 1.9 4.2
Communications 6.2 3.7 9.9
Command & Data Handling 1.8 1.2 3.0
Guidance & Navigation 4.6 2.4 7.0
Reaction Control 1.7 3.3 5.0
Camera 2.0 1.7 3.7
Sail Propulsion System 10.0 25.0 35.0
System Level 13.7 7.6 21.3
Integration, Assembly & Checkout 0.5 1.0 1.5
Systems Test Operations 1.5 0.0 1.5
Ground Support Equipment 4.0 0.0 4.0
Systems Engineering & Integration 3.9 4.4 8.3
Program Management 2.0 2.2 4.2
Launch & On-Orbit Support 1.8 0 1.8
Subtotal 49.8 48.3 98.1
Vehicle Integration 2.0 1.9 3.9
Fee 5.2 5.0 10.2
Program Support 11.4 11.1 22.5
Sub-total 68.4 66.3 134.7
Reserves (30%) 20.5 19.9 40.4
TOTAL 89.0 86.2 175.2


Multiple NEO Rendezvous Using Solar Sails

Multiple NEO Rendezvous Using Solar Sails

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