Dynamic analysis for the photonic electric solar wind sail spacecraft

As a new-type propellant-free propulsion system, the classical electric solar wind sail (E-sail) spacecraft generates continuous thrust by the solar wind dynamic pressure (SWDP) and the charged tether. In this work, a novel concept of the photonic E-sail spacecraft is investigated, in which an extra photonic thrust is generated from the solar radiation pressure (SRP) by the solar sail auxiliary propulsion system, that is, another propellant-free mechanism. The motivation for adding photonic films to the E-sail spacecraft is to effectively manipulate the spin rate and optimize structural and mass properties. The referenced nodal coordinate formulation (RNCF) is adopted for dynamical modeling, in which the multi-scale dimension, the highspeed spinning, and the large deformation characteristics are described accurately. Both the rigid-assumed and flexible dynamical models for the photonic E-sail spacecraft are derived in the differential algebraic equations (DAEs) form, where the accuracy of the rigid-assumed dynamical model is tested, and the influence of the flexible dynamical model is compared. Numerical simulations on the spinning maneuver of the photonic E-sail spacecraft indicate that it is necessary to keep a specific spin rate to avoid configuration instability, while the spin rate can be efficiently increased and decreased by adjusting the film inclination angles, reflecting the enhanced maneuverability compared with the classical E-sail spacecraft. In addition, a parametric analysis on the equivalent substitutability of the electric thrust by the photonic thrust is conducted, revealing that the moment of inertia of the photonic E-sail spacecraft can be significantly reduced by adding substructures and adjusting the size of the photonic film. This work offers a promising approach for achieving accurate and efficient spinning maneuvers of the E-sail spacecraft.