Solar Polar Sail mission: report of a study to put a scientific spacecraft in a circular polar orbit about the sun

Bruce E. Goldstein; Andrew Buffington; Alan C. Cummings; Richard R. Fisher; Bernard V. Jackson; Paulett C. Liewer; Richard A. Mewaldt; Marcia Neugebauer

doi:10.1117/12.330265

2 November 1998 Solar Polar Sail mission: report of a study to put a scientific spacecraft in a circular polar orbit about the sun

Bruce E. Goldstein, Andrew Buffington, Alan C. Cummings, Richard R. Fisher, Bernard V. Jackson, Paulett C. Liewer, Richard A. Mewaldt, Marcia Neugebauer

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3442, Missions to the Sun II; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.330265
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1998, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The Solar Polar Sail Mission uses solar-sail propulsion to place a spacecraft in a circular orbit 0.48 Au from the Sun with an inclination of 90 degrees. The spacecraft's orbit around the Sun is in 3:1 resonance with Earth phased such that the Earth-Sun-spacecraft angle range from 30 degrees to 150 degrees. The polar view will further our understanding of: (1) the global structure and evolution of the corona, (2) the initiation, evolution, and propagation of coronal mass ejections; (3) the acceleration of the solar wind; (4) the interactions of rotation, magnetic fields, and convection within the Sun; (5) the acceleration and propagation of energetic particles; and (6) the rate of angular momentum loss by the Sun. Candidate imaging instruments are a coronagraph, an all-sky imager for following mass ejections and interaction regions from the Sun to 1 AU, and a disk imager. A lightweight package of fields and particle instruments is included. A mission using a 158 m square sail with an effective areal density of 6 g/m² would cost approximately $LR 250-300M for all mission phases, including the launch vehicle. This mission depends on the successful development and demonstration of solar-sail propulsion.

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Bruce E. Goldstein, Andrew Buffington, Alan C. Cummings, Richard R. Fisher, Bernard V. Jackson, Paulett C. Liewer, Richard A. Mewaldt, and Marcia Neugebauer "Solar Polar Sail mission: report of a study to put a scientific spacecraft in a circular polar orbit about the sun", Proc. SPIE 3442, Missions to the Sun II, (2 November 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.330265

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