Sail deployment by microwave beam-experiments and simulations

Details Sail deployment by microwave beam-experiments and simulations Sail deployment by microwave beam-experiments and simulations

Jan 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002aipc..608..447b&link_type=abstract

SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL FORUM- STAIF 2002. Conference on Thermophyiscs in Microgravity; Conference on In

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Spaceborne And Space Research Instruments, Apparatus, And Components, Radiowave And Microwave Technology

Scientific paper

Unfurling and deployment of large-area, membrane structures in space is essential for many NASA purposes, such as large ultralight antennas and mirrors, occulters, collectors for SPS, and sailcraft for deep space exploration. Deployment is a complicated electromechanical problem, exacerbated by the difficulty and expense of realistic lab or space experiments. The requirement is to open and control very light but very large structures with a minimum of mechanical contact (``hands-off''), deployed from a minimum stowed volume (maximum packing fraction), while providing for control after deployment. We report here on a project that addresses deployment of carbon and other light materials by use of spin, charge and elastic forces. Last year we demonstrated microwave-driven spin of several types of sail by using polarized microwaves at JPL. In the first phase, we conducted experiments to study microwave beam-driven spin deployment, simulating this deployment and its extension to large structures in space. We will determine how efficiently spin forces couple to sail materials, what geometric shapes and material factors influence this electrodynamic efficiency, and develop analytical scaling rules for spin unfurling. This work is conducted under the Gossamer Program. .

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