Premium
Solar Sails: Controllable Propulsion by Light: Steering a Solar Sail via Tunable Radiation Pressure (Advanced Optical Materials 4/2017)
Author(s) -
Ma Dakang,
Murray Joseph,
Munday Jeremy N.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced optical materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 91
ISSN - 2195-1071
DOI - 10.1002/adom.201770020
Subject(s) - solar sail , propellant , propulsion , materials science , aerospace engineering , radiation pressure , optoelectronics , radiation , attitude control , optics , physics , engineering
Solar sails represent a novel space propulsion technology based on radiation pressure; however, steering and actuation typically require traditional propellants or fuel. In article number 1600668, Dakang Ma, Joseph Murray, and Jeremy N. Munday describe the use of a reflectivity control device based on a polymer dispersed liquid crystal, which enables propellant‐less attitude control through reflectivity modulation via an applied voltage.