Science opportunities with solar sailing smallsats
Authors: Slava G. Turyshev, Darren Garber, Louis D. Friedman, Andreas M. Hein, Nathan Barnes, Konstantin Batygin, Michael E. Brown, Leroy Cronin, Artur Davoyan, Amber Dubill, Sarah Gibson, Donald M. Hassler, Noam R. Izenberg, Pierre Kervella, Philip D. Mauskopf, Neil Murphy, Andrew Nutter, Carolyn Porco, Dario Riccobono, James Schalkwyk, Kevin B. Stevenson, Mark V. Sykes, Mahmooda Sultana, Viktor T. Toth, Marco Velli, S. Pete Worden
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.
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Papers around this one
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Closest papers
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The sun diver: Combining solar sails with the Oberth effectC. Bailer-Jones · 2020 · arXiv: Popular Physics · preprint, not peer reviewed · cited 8 times · Not summarized yet
Abstract
A highly reflective sail provides a way to propel a spacecraft out of the solar system using solar radiation pressure. The closer the spacecraft is to the Sun when it starts its outward journey, the larger the radiation pressure and so the larger the final velocity. For a spacecraft starting on the Earth's orbit, closer proximity can be achieved via a retrograde impulse from a rocket engine. The sail is then deployed at the closest approach to the Sun. Employing the so-called Oberth effect, a second, prograde, impulse at closest approach will raise the final velocity further. Here I investigate how a fixed total impulse ({\Delta}v) can best be distributed in this procedure to maximize the sa…
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Trajectory design and optimization of a solar sail sun probeJ. Garrido, Jose Perico H. Esguerra · 2023 · Not summarized yet
Abstract
There is a desire to observe the sun's poles to further deepen our understanding of solar activity. However, because of the large speeds needed to perform out-of-ecliptic plane maneuvers, chemical and electric rocket propulsion mechanisms have been proven to be costly and impractical, leaving alternative space technology systems like solar sails to be considered for these applications. In this paper, we study the possibility of using a solar sail as a probe observing the sun. We design and optimize the trajectories of the solar sail probe through the surface constraint approach, with the assumption that the sail moves on a displaced spherical surface. We first review the surface constraint a…
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Space sails for achieving major space exploration goals: Historical review and future outlookM. Berthet, James Schalkwyk, Onur Çelik et al. · 2024 · Progress in Aerospace Sciences · cited 60 times · Not summarized yet
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Circumnavigating the sun with diffractive solar sailsAmber Dubill, Grover A. Swartzlander · 2021 · Acta Astronautica · cited 30 times · Not summarized yet
Abstract
Abstract A solar sail based on the physics of diffracted light provides a means of harnessing opto-mechanical momentum for in-space propulsion. As an example a heuristic roll maneuver of a diffractive sail is found to produce a spiral trajectory that provides a high orbital inclination angle at a close solar orbit. A comparison of five-year spiral trajectories of ideal diffractive and reflective sails reveals that the former achieves a higher solar inclination angle and a smaller orbital radius than the latter. We envision placing a constellation of diffractive solar sails around the sun to collect images and other data for space weather monitoring and heliophysics science. For illustration …
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Propulsion Trades for a 2035-2040 Solar Gravitational Lens MissionS. Turyshev · 2026 · cited 1 time · Not summarized yet
Abstract
The Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) enables resolved imaging and spectroscopy of nearby terrestrial exoplanets, but useful science begins only after a spacecraft reaches roughly 650-900 astronomical units (AU). A 20 yr lower-bound trip to 650 AU requires an average radial speed of 32.5 AU per year, or 154 km/s, before launch, targeting, steering, and operations margins. We compare close-perihelion solar sailing, fission-electric nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), and high-thrust Oberth injection followed by NEP cruise using common lower-bound outbound-leg architecture envelopes, not closed end-to-end trajectories. For an ideal sail passing 0.05 AU from the Sun, total sailcraft areal density m…
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A light sail astrobiology precursor mission to Enceladus and EuropaM. Lingam, A. Hibberd, Andreas M. Hein · 2024 · Acta Astronautica · cited 5 times · Not summarized yet
Abstract
Icy moons with subsurface oceans of liquid water rank among the most promising astrobiological targets in our Solar System. In this work, we assess the feasibility of deploying laser sail technology in precursor life-detection missions. We investigate such laser sail missions to Enceladus and Europa, as these two moons emit plumes that seem accessible to in situ sampling. Our study suggests that GigaWatt laser technology could accelerate a $100$ kg probe to a speed of $\sim{30}\, \mathrm{km\, s^{-1}}$, thereupon reaching Europa on timescales of $1$-$4$ years and Enceladus with flight times of $3$-$6$ years. Although the ideal latitudes for the laser array vary, placing the requisite infrastr…
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Small-Body Science with the Nautilus Space Observatory: From Cislunar Space Resilience to Mapping the Kuiper-Belt-to-Oort-Cloud TransitionJ. de Wit, A. Burdanov, P. McGill et al. · 2026 · Not summarized yet
Abstract
A new generation of space-based observatories can transform small-body science from the local Earth-Moon environment to the Solar System's dynamical frontier, where planetary control gives way to Galactic tides and stellar encounters. Mapping this frontier would reveal how planetesimals were scattered during giant-planet formation, how many primordial bodies survived in distant reservoirs, and whether large objects remain undiscovered in the inner Oort Cloud. At the same time, meter- to decameter-scale natural objects traversing the Earth-Moon system are frequent but poorly characterized. As human and robotic activity expands, their operational relevance depends not simply on abundance but o…
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High-performance solar sails for interstellar object rendezvousDaniel Miller, F. Duvigneaud, William Menken et al. · 2022 · Acta Astronautica · cited 19 times · Not summarized yet
Prior work it builds on
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Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravity Lens MissionS. Turyshev, M. Shao, L. Alkalai et al. · 2018 · cited 43 times · Not summarized yet
Abstract
The remarkable optical properties of the solar gravitational lens (SGL) include major brightness amplification (~1e11 at wavelength of 1 um) and extreme angular resolution (~1e-10 arcsec) in a narrow field of view. A mission to the SGL carrying a modest telescope and coronagraph opens up a possibility for direct megapixel imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy of a habitable Earth-like exoplanet at a distance of up to 100 light years. The entire image of such a planet is compressed by the SGL into a region with a diameter of ~1.3 km in the vicinity of the focal line. The telescope, acting as a single pixel detector while traversing this region, can build an image of the exoplanet with kilo…
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Solar Physics From Unconventional ViewpointsS. Gibson, A. Vourlidas, D. Hassler et al. · 2018 · Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences · cited 29 times · Not summarized yet
Abstract
We explore new opportunities for solar physics that could be realized by future missions providing sustained observations from vantage points away from the Sun-Earth line. These include observations from the far side of the Sun, at high latitudes including over the solar poles, or from near-quadrature angles relative to the Earth (e.g., the Sun-Earth L4 and L5 Lagrangian points). Such observations fill known holes in our scientific understanding of the three-dimensional, time-evolving Sun and heliosphere, and have the potential to open new frontiers through discoveries enabled by novel viewpoints.
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Trajectory optimization for solar sail in cislunar navigation constellation with minimal lightness numberXiao Pan, Ming Xu, Ramil Santos · 2017 · Aerospace Science and Technology · cited 16 times · Not summarized yet
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NASA Space Science Vision MissionsMarc S. Allen · 2008 · cited 6 times · Not summarized yet
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Resolved imaging of exoplanets with the solar gravitational lensS. Turyshev, V. Toth · 2022 · Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · cited 16 times · Not summarized yet
Abstract
We discuss the feasibility of direct multipixel imaging of exoplanets with the solar gravitational lens (SGL) in the context of a realistic deep space mission. For this, we consider an optical telescope, placed in the image plane that forms in the strong interference region of the SGL. We consider an Earth-like exoplanet located in our immediate stellar neighborhood and model its characteristics using our own Earth. We estimate photon fluxes from such a compact, extended, resolved exoplanet. This light appears in the form of an Einstein ring around the Sun, seen through the solar corona. The solar corona background contributes a significant amount of stochastic noise and represents the main …
Papers that cite it
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Harnessing sunlight beyond earth: Sustainable vision of space-based solar power systems in smart gridHyuna Kang, Hakpyeong Kim, Juwon Hong et al. · 2024 · Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews · cited 18 times · Not summarized yet
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Extending the Spherical Planetary Radiation Pressure Acceleration Model to Optical Solar SailsLivio Carzana, Pieter Visser, J. Heiligers · 2025 · Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics · cited 3 times · Not summarized yet
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Chasing nomadic worlds: A new class of deep space missionsM. Lingam, Andreas M. Hein, T. Eubanks · 2023 · Acta Astronautica · cited 3 times · Not summarized yet
Abstract
Nomadic worlds, i.e., objects not gravitationally bound to any star(s), are of great interest to planetary science and astrobiology. They have garnered attention recently due to constraints derived from microlensing surveys and the recent discovery of interstellar planetesimals. In this paper, we roughly estimate the prevalence of nomadic worlds with radii of $100\,\mathrm{km} \lesssim R \lesssim 10^4\,\mathrm{km}$. The cumulative number density $n_>\left(>R\right)$ appears to follow a heuristic power law given by $n_>\propto R^{-3}$. Therefore, smaller objects are probably much more numerous than larger rocky nomadic planets, and statistically more likely to have members relatively close to…
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Sundivers performance analysis with locally optimal control lawD. Perepukhov, Iuliia Diugaeva · 2026 · Advances in Space Research · cited 1 time · Not summarized yet
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A search for Planet Nine with small spacecraft: Three-body, post-Newtonian, non-gravitational, planetary and Kuiper Belt effectsSahin Ulas Koprucu, B. Tekin · 2023 · Acta Astronautica · Not summarized yet
Abstract
A hypothetical gravitating body in the outer Solar System, the so-called Planet Nine, was proposed to explain the unexpected clustering of the Kuiper Belt Objects. As it has not been observed via telescopes, it was conjectured to be a primordial black hole (of the size of a quince) that could be gravitationally detected by laser-launching or solar sailing many small spacecraft. Here, we study various aspects affecting such a search for Planet Nine. Our basic observable is the angular displacement in the trajectory of a small spacecraft which will be mainly affected by the gravity of Planet Nine, augmented with several other 3-body, non-gravitational, post-Newtonian, planetary, and Kuiper Bel…
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