The range of solar sailing is very vast; it is a fully in-space means of propulsion that should allow us to accomplish various mission classes that are literally impossible using rocket propulsion, no matter if nuclear or electric. Fast and very fast solar sailings are special classes of sailcraft missions, initially developed only in the first half of the 1990s and still evolving, especially after the latest advances in nanotechnology.

This book describes how to plan, compute and optimize the trajectories of sailcraft with speeds considerably higher than 100 km/s; such sailcraft would be able to explore the outer heliosphere, the near interstellar medium and the solar gravitational lens (550-800 astronomical units) in times significantly shorter than the span of an average career (~ 35 years), just to cite a few examples. The scientific interest in this type of exploration is huge.

Aerospace engineering
Astrodynamics
Fast Solar Sailing
Manned space missions
Propulsion systems
Space Missions
Space exploration

• Introduction to Solar Sailing

• Principles of Solar Sail Propulsion

• Materials and Design of Solar Sails

• Acceleration and Speed in Solar Sailing

• Technological Advances in Fast Solar Sails

• Mission Concepts for Fast Solar Sailing

• Navigation and Control of Solar Sailcraft

• Challenges and Limitations

• Comparisons with Other Propulsion Methods

• Current Projects and Experiments

• Future Prospects of Fast Solar Sailing

• Potential Applications in Space Exploration

• International Academy of Astronautics, Paris, France

  Giovanni Vulpetti

Book Title
Fast Solar Sailing

Book Subtitle
Astrodynamics of Special Sailcraft Trajectories

Authors
Giovanni Vulpetti

Series Title
Space Technology Library

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4777-7

Publisher
Springer Dordrecht

eBook Packages
Engineering, Engineering (R0)

Copyright Information
The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature B.V. 2013

Hardcover ISBN
978-94-007-4776-0
Published: 10 August 2012

Softcover ISBN
978-94-017-8196-1
Published: 21 September 2014

eBook ISBN
978-94-007-4777-7
Published: 10 August 2012

Series ISSN
0924-4263

Series E-ISSN
2542-8896

Edition Number
1

Number of Pages
XXX, 410

Topics
Aerospace Technology and Astronautics, Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics), Numerical and Computational Physics, Simulation