Our proposal builds upon our teams technical findings in Phase 1 - that an E-Sail propelled spacecraft can travel 100 AU in less than 10 years or to the Heliopause (120 - 150 AU) in < 15 years. In addition to the Heliopause missions, our team member - Dr. Pekka Janhunen of the Finish Meteorological Institute (FMI) - has examined a number of missions of scientific discovery where the E-Sail propulsion system will provide rapid transits so various researchers could begin to get data back from outer planetary missions within 1 to 2 years of launch.
More »The proposed HERTS Phase II study will move us forward in the quest to make rapid heliospheric transit times a reality. From the Phase I and previous top-level studies, HERTS appears feasible. The Phase II study will determine its functional and engineering feasibility and bring us to the point of a preliminary system design. The available model presently being used for performance calculations is well-known, but its application to this particular problem is questionable. The proposed experimental program and theoretical calculations using a numerical PIC code will combine to validate a working model capable of providing reliable and accurate engineering design parameters. This will, in turn, enable a realistic preliminary design that can be used to provide accurate HERTS performance metrics for a range of solar wind conditions and transfer times for a variety of missions, mature HERTS deployment and operational scenarios; and mature the design of physical components and the overall HERTS system to the level necessary for a flight validation test. The Phase II study is designed to close the gap on the TRL of the major risk areas. Phase II will provide NASA with the design knowledge and tools to begin development of a functioning propulsion system. The plasma testing and PIC modeling will provide the data to define the power requirements and operating voltage levels needed to provide the vehicle with the required thrust/acceleration. The wire configuration and design task will provide a workable design that will allow the team to focus resources to mature the design and proposed meaningful tests to reduce the technical and operational risk of the deployment and wire configurations. Vehicle control is critical to allowing the spacecraft to navigate to regions of deep space that are of interest. The product of the Phase II study will provide algorithms and methods to manage the vehicle and to design voltage control strategies for steering the vehicle. The final task will provide NIAC program with a set of recommendations to mature the propulsion system and provide NASA with a means to explore the Heliopause on a time scale that will interest scientists and provide a propulsion system that may allow the development of deep space Cubesats to explore the rest of our solar system. The team expects to publish several conference papers as a result of this study. The PIC modeling could improve the understanding of spacecraft charging in any deep space environment. The plasma testing and PIC modeling provide a basis to validate PIC modeling approaches with domain specific data.
More »Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
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Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) | Lead Organization | NASA Center | Huntsville, Alabama |
Finnish Meteorological Institute | Supporting Organization | Academia | Helsinki, Outside the United States, Finland |
Tethers Unlimited Inc | Supporting Organization | Industry | Bothell, Washington |