2024-01-10 カリフォルニア大学バークレー校(UCB)
Schematic of components for the proposed femtoscale solar sail. The pressure of solar radiation against the sail will provide propulsion for the spacecraft, while cell phone-based and MEMS technologies will enable navigation, communication and image capture. (Image courtesy of Alexander Alvara)
◆電気工学とコンピュータサイエンスの教授であるKristofer Pister博士率いる研究者たちは、マイクロスケール技術の進歩を活かし、太陽系内の宇宙探査を費用対効果の高いものにし、新しい発見を加速させることを目指しています。プロジェクトは、小型宇宙船プロジェクト、CubeSats、ChipSats、Breakthrough Starshot Initiativeなどの他のプロジェクトに基づいており、太陽帆の操縦性を向上させ、低質量の家庭用電子機器を使用して製造コストをさらに削減することを試みています。
＜関連情報＞
- https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2024/01/small-solar-sails-could-be-the-next-giant-leap-for-interplanetary-space-exploration/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094576523005969
BLISS：低コストの宇宙船群による惑星間探査 BLISS: Interplanetary exploration with swarms of low-cost spacecraft
Alexander N. Alvara, Lydia Lee, Emmanuel Sin, Nathan Lambert, Andrew J. Westphal, Kristofer S.J. Pister
Acta Astronautica Available online:23 November 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2023.11.027
Abstract
Leveraging advancements in micro-scale technology, we propose a fleet of autonomous, low-cost, small solar sails for interplanetary exploration. The Berkeley Low-cost Interplanetary Solar Sail (BLISS) project aims to utilize small-scale technologies to create a fleet of tiny interplanetary spacecraft for rapid, low-cost exploration of the inner solar system. This paper describes the hardware required to build a ∼10 g spacecraft using a 1 m2 solar sail steered by micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) inchworm actuators. The trajectory control to a NEO, here 101955 Bennu, is detailed along with the low-level actuation control of the solar sail and the specifications of proposed onboard communication and computation. Two other applications are also shortly considered: sample return from dozens of Jupiter-family comets and cometary nuclei imaging. The paper concludes by discussing the fundamental scaling limits and future directions for steerable autonomous miniature solar sails with onboard custom computers and sensors.
