@article{e1eb182fb1de4859b5615e0de9e48415,
title = "Science opportunities with solar sailing smallsats",
abstract = "Recently, we witnessed how the synergy of small satellite technology and solar sailing propulsion enables new missions. Together, small satellites with lightweight instruments and solar sails offer affordable access to deep regions of the solar system, also making it possible to realize hard-to-reach trajectories that are not constrained to the ecliptic plane. Combining these two technologies can drastically reduce travel times within the solar system, while delivering robust science. With solar sailing propulsion capable of reaching the velocities of ∼5–10 AU/yr, missions using a rideshare launch may reach the Jovian system in two years, Saturn in three. The same technologies could allow reaching solar polar orbits in less than two years. Fast, cost-effective, and maneuverable sailcraft that may travel outside the ecliptic plane open new opportunities for affordable solar system exploration, with great promise for heliophysics, planetary science, and astrophysics. Such missions could be modularized to reach different destinations with different sets of instruments. Benefiting from this progress, we present the “Sundiver” concept, offering novel possibilities for the science community. We discuss some of the key technologies, the current design of the Sundiver sailcraft vehicle and innovative instruments, along with unique science opportunities that these technologies enable, especially as this exploration paradigm evolves. We formulate policy recommendations to allow national space agencies, industry, and other stakeholders to establish a strong scientific, programmatic, and commercial focus, enrich and deepen the space enterprise and broaden its advocacy base by including the Sundiver paradigm as a part of broader space exploration efforts.",
keywords = "Astrophysics, Heliophysics, Planetary science, Science policy, Solar sailing, Sundiver concept",
author = "Turyshev, {Slava G.} and Darren Garber and Friedman, {Louis D.} and Hein, {Andreas M.} and Nathan Barnes and Konstantin Batygin and Brown, {Michael E.} and Leroy Cronin and Davoyan, {Artur R.} and Amber Dubill and Eubanks, {T. Marshall} and Sarah Gibson and Hassler, {Donald M.} and Izenberg, {Noam R.} and Pierre Kervella and Mauskopf, {Philip D.} and Neil Murphy and Andrew Nutter and Carolyn Porco and Dario Riccobono and James Schalkwyk and Stevenson, {Kevin B.} and Sykes, {Mark V.} and Mahmooda Sultana and Toth, {Viktor T.} and Marco Velli and Worden, {S. Pete}",
note = "Funding Information: Part of this work was funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program through the 2020 NIAC Phase III grant on “Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravitational Lens Mission” (with S.G. Turyshev being the PI). Our gratitude goes to Jason E. Derleth, Michael R. Lapointe, John C. Nelson, Katherine M. Reilly, Frank Spellman, and Ronald E. Turner of NIAC for their support, interest, and encouragement. Funding Information: The 2020 NIAC Phase III study concluded with a TDM Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on July 18, 2022 (Garber et al., 2022b). Next is pre-project mission development, which includes final design, hardware development, full-scale prototype construction, as well as hardware and software testing (see Table 1 and Fig. 3). Should funding be available, the TDM Critical Design Review (CDR) may be conducted in November 2023, when flight project commitment is expected, including a firm costing of the TDM. The total project cost will depend on the selected mission objectives, science payload, and experiments, and is expected to be in the range of $17–20M.We would like to express our gratitude to our many colleagues who have either collaborated with us on this manuscript or given us their wisdom. We specifically thank Harry Atwater, Linden Bolisay, Penelope Boston, Robin Canup, Darrel Conway, Bethany Ehlmann, Juan M. Fernandez, John Hanson, Les Johnson, Sarah Johnson, Shri Kulkarni, Avy Loeb, Philip Lubin, Gregory L. Matloff, Francis Nimmo, Merav Opher, Greg Pass, Mason Peck, Elaine Petro, Scott Schick, Thomas Svitek, Grover Swartzlander, and Edward Witten who provided us with valuable comments, encouragement, and stimulating discussions of the various topics discussed in this document while it was in preparation. The Aerospace Corporation provided valuable input on many aspects presented in this paper and also conducted an independent cost estimate for the TDM. Our thanks go to Thomas Heinsheimer, Henry Helvajian, and John P. McVey for their interest, encouragement, and comments on various points raised in this document. We are grateful to our many European colleagues. In particular, our gratitude goes to Matteo Ceriotti, Bernd Dachwald, Lamberto Dell'Elce, Benjamin Fernando, J. Thimo Grundmann, Alesia Herasimenka, Vaios J. Lappas, Colin R. McInnes, and Giovanni Vulpetti who benefited us with their insightful comments and suggestions. Breakthrough Initiatives supported several meetings with the science community for a broader discussion of potential Sundiver missions. We also thank Tom Kalil of the Schmidt Futures for encouragement and valuable advice on various programmatic points discussed here. We thank our colleagues at JPL for their encouragement, support, and advice regarding this manuscript. We especially appreciate interest and valuable feedback from David A. Bearden, Julie Castillo-Rogez, Anthony Freeman, Lorraine Fesq, Paul F. Goldsmith, Keith Grogan, Damon Landau, Gregory Lantoine, Paulett C. Liewer, Rosaly Lopes, Charles Norton, Humphrey W. Price, Robert Staehle, Richard Terrile, and Neal J. Turner who have kindly provided us with insightful comments and valuable suggestions on various aspects of the manuscript. Part of this work was funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program through the 2020 NIAC Phase III grant on “Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravitational Lens Mission” (with S.G. Turyshev being the PI). Our gratitude goes to Jason E. Derleth, Michael R. Lapointe, John C. Nelson, Katherine M. Reilly, Frank Spellman, and Ronald E. Turner of NIAC for their support, interest, and encouragement. Many of our meetings were held at the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) at Caltech. We thank Thomas A. Prince and Michele A. Judd of the KISS for their hospitality, encouragement, and support. We thank David Brin, a member of the NIAC External Council (\url:https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/nec_bios_all.html) for his creative contribution to the Sundiver Brin (1980). The work described here, in part, was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (80NM0018D0004). VTT acknowledges the generous support of Plamen Vasilev and other Patreon patrons. Pre-decisional information – for planning and discussion purposes only. The cost information contained in this document is of a budgetary and planning nature and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute a commitment on the part of JPL and/or Caltech.In the scope of two different NASA funded programs (NIAC II (Davoyan et al., 2021b), NIAC III (Turyshev et al., 2020b)) the design of the “Sundiver” sailcraft was considered at various depths of detail.58 The studies have shown the feasibility of the concept. Specifically, it was shown that sail materials surviving 0.2 AU exist, preliminary thermal modeling was conducted, and concurrent engineering trades to meet desired mass budget were performed. At the same time, detailed engineering studies are needed to determine and validate a path to building and launching, thus moving the effort from the current stage to deployment to successful mission implementation. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Elsevier Ltd",
year = "2023",
month = oct,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.pss.2023.105744",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "235",
journal = "Planetary and Space Science",
issn = "0032-0633",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
}