Accessing the Solar System With a Small Solar Sail
نویسندگان
چکیده
Solar sailing is a proposed means of space propulsion in which a reflective surface collects momentum from solar photons to accelerate a vehicle. The current trend within the solar sailing community is to increase sail size as solar sailing technologies advance, allowing for larger payloads and higher accelerations. However, with the miniaturization of modern payloads, sail sizes can be dramatically reduced while still providing useful propulsion. These smaller micro-sails offer several advantages over larger sails, such as reduced cost and complexity and increased reliability and maneuverability.
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