Small-scale Experiments and Simulations of Centrifugal Membrane Deployment of Solar Sail Craft 'IKAROS'

Author(s):  
Nobukatsu Okuizumi ◽  
Azusa Muta ◽  
Saburo Matsunaga ◽  
Hiraku Sakamoto ◽  
Yoji Shirasawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerospace ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluigi Bovesecchi ◽  
Sandra Corasaniti ◽  
Girolamo Costanza ◽  
Maria Elisa Tata

This work deals with the feasibility and reliability about the use of shape memory alloys (SMAs) as mechanical actuators for solar sail self-deployment instead of heavy and bulky mechanical booms. Solar sails exploit radiation pressure a as propulsion system for the exploration of the solar system. Sunlight is used to propel space vehicles by reflecting solar photons from a large and light-weight material, so that no propellant is required for primary propulsion. In this work, different small-scale solar sail prototypes (SSP) were studied, manufactured, and tested for bending and in three different environmental conditions to simulate as much as possible the real operating conditions where the solar sails work. Kapton is the most suitable material for sail production and, in the space missions till now, activated booms as deployment systems have always been used. In the present work for the activation of the SMA elements some visible lamps have been employed to simulate the solar radiation and time-temperature diagrams have been acquired for different sail geometries and environmental conditions. Heat transfer mechanisms have been discussed and the minimum distance from the sun allowing the full self-deployment of the sail have also been calculated.


Actuators ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Boschetto ◽  
Luana Bottini ◽  
Girolamo Costanza ◽  
Maria Elisa Tata

Solar sails are propellantless systems where the propulsive force is given by the momentum exchange of reflecting photons. Thanks to the use of shape memory alloys for the self-actuation of the system, complexity of the structure itself has decreased and so has the weight of the whole structure. Four self-deploying systems based on the NiTi shape memory wires have been designed and manufactured in different configurations (wires disposal and folding number). The deployed solar sails surfaces have been acquired by a Nextengine 3D Laser Scanner based on the Multistripe Triangulation. 3D maps have been pre-processed through Geomagic Studio and then elaborated in the Wolfram Mathematica environment. The planarity degree has been evaluated as level curves from the regression plane highlighting marked differences between the four configurations and locating the vertices as the most critical zones. These results are useful in the optimization of the best folding solution both in the weight/surface reduction and in the planarity degree of the solar sail.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girolamo Costanza ◽  
Gabriele Leoncini ◽  
Fabrizio Quadrini ◽  
Maria Elisa Tata

Solar sails are propellantless systems where the propulsive force is given by the momentum exchange of reflecting photons. In this study, a self-deploying system based on NiTi shape memory wires and sheets has been designed and manufactured. A small-scale prototype of solar sail with carbon fibre loom has been developed. Different configurations have been tested to optimize material and structure design of the small-scale solar sail. In particular the attention has been focused on the surface/weight ratio and the deployment of the solar sail. By reducing weight and enlarging the surface, it is possible to obtain high values of characteristic acceleration that is one of the main parameters for a successful use of the solar sail as propulsion system. Thanks to the use of shape memory alloys for self-actuation of the system, complexity of the structure itself decreases. Moreover, sail deployment is simpler.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Buckner ◽  
Luke Glowacki

Abstract De Dreu and Gross predict that attackers will have more difficulty winning conflicts than defenders. As their analysis is presumed to capture the dynamics of decentralized conflict, we consider how their framework compares with ethnographic evidence from small-scale societies, as well as chimpanzee patterns of intergroup conflict. In these contexts, attackers have significantly more success in conflict than predicted by De Dreu and Gross's model. We discuss the possible reasons for this disparity.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 403-406
Author(s):  
M. Karovska ◽  
B. Wood ◽  
J. Chen ◽  
J. Cook ◽  
R. Howard

AbstractWe applied advanced image enhancement techniques to explore in detail the characteristics of the small-scale structures and/or the low contrast structures in several Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) observed by SOHO. We highlight here the results from our studies of the morphology and dynamical evolution of CME structures in the solar corona using two instruments on board SOHO: LASCO and EIT.


Author(s):  
CE Bracker ◽  
P. K. Hansma

A new family of scanning probe microscopes has emerged that is opening new horizons for investigating the fine structure of matter. The earliest and best known of these instruments is the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). First published in 1982, the STM earned the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for two of its inventors, G. Binnig and H. Rohrer. They shared the prize with E. Ruska for his work that had led to the development of the transmission electron microscope half a century earlier. It seems appropriate that the award embodied this particular blend of the old and the new because it demonstrated to the world a long overdue respect for the enormous contributions electron microscopy has made to the understanding of matter, and at the same time it signalled the dawn of a new age in microscopy. What we are seeing is a revolution in microscopy and a redefinition of the concept of a microscope.Several kinds of scanning probe microscopes now exist, and the number is increasing. What they share in common is a small probe that is scanned over the surface of a specimen and measures a physical property on a very small scale, at or near the surface. Scanning probes can measure temperature, magnetic fields, tunneling currents, voltage, force, and ion currents, among others.


Author(s):  
R. Gronsky

It is now well established that the phase transformation behavior of YBa2Cu3O6+δ is significantly influenced by matrix strain effects, as evidenced by the formation of accommodation twins, the occurrence of diffuse scattering in diffraction patterns, the appearance of tweed contrast in electron micrographs, and the generation of displacive modulation superstructures, all of which have been successfully modeled via simple Monte Carlo simulations. The model is based upon a static lattice formulation with two types of excitations, one of which is a change in oxygen occupancy, and the other a small displacement of both the copper and oxygen sublattices. Results of these simulations show that a displacive superstructure forms very rapidly in a morphology of finely textured domains, followed by domain growth and a more sharply defined modulation wavelength, ultimately evolving into a strong <110> tweed with 5 nm to 7 nm period. What is new about these findings is the revelation that both the small-scale deformation superstructures and coarser tweed morphologies can result from displacive modulations in ordered YBa2Cu3O6+δ and need not be restricted to domain coarsening of the disordered phase. Figures 1 and 2 show a representative image and diffraction pattern for fully-ordered (δ = 1) YBa2Cu3O6+δ associated with a long-period <110> modulation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 131-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Degner ◽  
Dirk Wentura ◽  
Klaus Rothermund

Abstract: We review research on response-latency based (“implicit”) measures of attitudes by examining what hopes and intentions researchers have associated with their usage. We identified the hopes of (1) gaining better measures of interindividual differences in attitudes as compared to self-report measures (quality hope); (2) better predicting behavior, or predicting other behaviors, as compared to self-reports (incremental validity hope); (3) linking social-cognitive theories more adequately to empirical research (theory-link hope). We argue that the third hope should be the starting point for using these measures. Any attempt to improve these measures should include the search for a small-scale theory that adequately explains the basic effects found with such a measure. To date, small-scale theories for different measures are not equally well developed.


2000 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-398
Author(s):  
Roger Smith
Keyword(s):  

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