Davinc.it - Inflatable Starshot

🚀 — Inflatable starshot with solar sail guidance system

Designed in August 2024

This page contains two practical ideas for space exploration :

Using inflated part pressure to ensure natural deployment of any equiangular shaped plane, from a triangle to a hexagon.
Using sub-sail for directionality by employing the friction-induced force to navigate the ship.

Speaking of space exploration, the project Breakthrough Starshot is at the frontier of space travel for exoplanet image capture. It consists of using solar sails (see here) to propel the spaceship. Explained simply, solar sails catch up solar winds and rays like a boat sail would with winds. More technically, by massifying the friction effect of light rays on a large area you can create a thrust, you can do it with laser as well. A concrete milestone has already been reached by the Ikaros team (JAXA) — Ikaros : First Successful Solar Sail

➠ Inflatable parts

From a technical perspective, the deployment of such a light sail in equiangular shape in space (you can see the rectangle on the next image), pose significant issues (see pictures below). For this matter I propose a design for which the external edges are made with inflatables but tinny tubes.

By forces in play, the overall structure will steadily take its final shape : the external inflatable edges pressuring the whole shape into its final form while the edges are delimiting it.

Furthermore, compared to internal inflatable edges this solution ensures a better stability and coherence on the y plane (using x, y, z on the previous image) — through juxtaposed pressure. Indeed, with internal inflatable edges the risk to obtain an unwanted airfoil, one of the internal edge going out of alignment.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Ikaros solar sail is seen in deep space after its deployment on June 14, 2010, in this view taken from a small camera ejected by the sail. (Image credit: JAXA)

The first picture is an artist illustration of the project Breakthrough Starshot. Below, you can see an artist representation of deployed and undeployed solar sails from the Light Sail project (which is similar). The sail deployment constraints push the engineers to use solid edges that could be replaced with inflatable external edges (this is the idea we discussed). Just above, there is my hand-drawn sketch for the two ideas.

➠ Sub-sails for guidance

As this can be seen on the sketch, little deployable sub-sails can be added over the shape's edges to create a friction phenomenon. These secondary solar-sail could be used to add directionality to the ship movements. These movements would be soft and broads. Their retractability ensures more precision. This system may help economize fuel or even compose without (with batteries only).

➠ Additional note

With another design, if you have a permanent rotation you can put inflatable parts at the four corners for it to function. On the other hand, compared to inflatable edges that can work as one supply conduit, you need 4 four supply conduits — or one cleverly engineered — and need to keep the rotation throughout the entire route.

➠ Physics

From the point of view of the wave-matter duality in quantum mechanics, we can attribute a potential-mass to the photon. In the context of a solar sail, we can roughly consider that one photon out of two causes a slight push as if it had a mass — due to this duality. In terms of theoretical physics, in quantum mechanics, we speak radiation pressure from an energy flux.

Generative piece of art for a triangular shaped solar sail.

➠ Press

ESA Bulletin 108 — Novembre 2001 — Solar Sailing – Mission Opportunities and Innovative Technology Demonstration

Article from late August 2024 : NASA's solar sail successfully spreads its wings in space

Read this report from September 2024 for more : NASA Solar Sail Spacecraft Damaged, Spinning Through Space (here in French)

Quoting :

Unfortunately, the space agency is dealing with a "slight bend in one of the four booms" stretching out the sail.

"This likely occurred as the booms and sail were pulled taut to the spacecraft during deployment," NASA wrote in its update. "Analysis indicates that the bend may have partially straightened over the weeks since boom deployment, while the spacecraft was slowly tumbling."

Note : with this idea the broom misalignment might have been managed more easily.

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