Rocket Lab flight carries new solar sail technology
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket has successfully launched a potential new way to travel through space. The mission, named “Beginning of the Swarm,” put two payloads into a Sun-synchronous orbit. One of these payloads is NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), which aims to test a new composite material that can be folded up inside a small CubeSat and still deploy and remain rigid once in space.
Traditionally, spacecraft and satellites used chemical or electrical propulsion. However, the ACS3 solar sail utilizes sunlight and solar wind to propel the spacecraft. The sail involves deploying a large metallic sheet that acts like the sail on a sailboat. While extendable boom technology has been around for some time, the use of a polymer material enhanced with carbon fiber in a small satellite deployment option is now possible.
The deployment process involves unfolding the entire sail in approximately 25 minutes to assess its stability and durability. To overcome limitations with thermal expansion, the ACS3 uses a brand-new composite boom material made from laminates and multi-layer composites. This material offers enhanced structural stability and thermal properties compared to metallic booms, which tend to deform under prolonged exposure to sunlight.
Another challenge was finding the right mechanism for deploying the large sail within the confined space of a CubeSat. The ACS3 is only a 40-percent scale prototype of NASA’s future plans, but it serves as a testbed for larger-scale systems. Future versions, six times larger than ACS3, are already being developed, and NASA is partnering with teams from the German Space Agency (DLR) to refine the physical deployment mechanism.
The potential applications of this solar sail technology extend beyond space travel. NASA is interested in using similar roller structures to deploy towers, solar panels, and communication antennas on the surface of the moon as part of the Artemis lunar program. The solid surface created by the new composite boom material is more suitable than mesh reflectors prone to dust issues on the moon.
Additionally, the mission carried another payload called NeonSat-1, a high-resolution optical satellite developed by Korea’s leading science and technology institute. This satellite will be deployed as a technology demonstration for a planned Earth observation constellation.
The successful launch of these payloads aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket opens up new possibilities for space travel and exploration. If the ACS3 solar sail technology proves successful, it could revolutionize propulsion systems for future missions, both in deep space and on the moon. The collaboration between NASA, Rocket Lab, and international partners highlights the importance of cross-border cooperation in advancing scientific research and space exploration. With further development and refinement, solar sail technology could potentially enable more efficient and sustainable space missions in the future.