Advances in CubeSat Sails and Tethers
A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Astronautics & Space Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 26650
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nanospacecraft; CubeSat; nanosatellite; interplanetary propulsion; electric solar wind sail; space debris; deorbiting; plasma brake; mission design; deep-space missions; spacecraft control; optical imaging; celestial navigation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: space plasma physics; sustainable space; electric solar wind sail; plasma brake; propulsion; space settlements
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Spacecraft size and propulsion are major limiting factors in space mission design. Chemical and electric propulsion require the spacecraft size to be several orders of magnitude larger than CubeSats. The CubeSat Standard in conjunction with the New Space movement has revolutionized the space industry and scientific exploration. CubeSats consist of one or multiple 10×10×10 cm units stacked together in order to achieve the desired mission objectives. With a typical CubeSat mass in the range of 1–10 kg, their propellant storage capabilities are extremely limited if available at all.
Propellantless propulsion systems use an external force to propel the spacecraft, instead of an onboard propellant. This can be photon pressure and solar wind originating in the Sun, as well as magnetic field originating in a planet’s core or atmospheric particles dragging the spacecraft to a lower altitude. We can employ physical light sails to reflect photons and travel the Solar System. A similar drag sail can be used in low Earth orbit (LEO) for orbital debris mitigation with deorbiting. Virtual electromagnetic sails can also be generated: the electric sail deflects solar wind particles using the Coulomb drag force to travel sunward and away from the star, electrodynamic tethers use Lorentz force to increase and lower a satellite’s altitude, and the plasma brake employs the Coulomb drag interaction with the ionosphere for deorbiting. We invite you to submit papers on topics covering CubeSat sails and tethers – fundamental aspects, simulations, designs, optimization, operations, applications in Earth orbit and deep space as well as in-orbit results.
Prof. Dr. Andris Slavinskis
Dr. Pekka Janhunen
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- propellantless CubeSat propulsion
- lightsails (photon pressure propulsion) and dragsails (atmospheric drag)
- electric solar wind sail and plasma brake (Coulomb drag propulsion)
- electrodynamics tethers (Lorentz force propulsion)
- earth orbit as well as interplanetary CubeSats
- orbital debris
- on-board orbit and attitude control
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Related Special Issue
- Advances in CubeSat Sails and Tethers (2nd Edition) in Aerospace (2 articles)