NASA, Industry Partners Complete Tests of Solar Sails

NASA engineers and their industry partners have successfully deployed two 400-square-meter solar sails during ground testing. This is a critical milestone in the development of a unique propulsion technology that uses the Sun to propel vehicles through space.

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The 20-by-20-meter solar sail systems, large, sprawling sheets of material that resemble extremely thin pieces of aluminum foil supported by a series of booms, were developed by two engineering firms, ATK Space Systems of Goleta, Calif., and L'Garde Inc., of Tustin, Calif. Their work is led by the In-Space Propulsion Technology Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Both companies successfully and safely completed a series of system tests at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. The tests were conducted in Plum Brook's Space Power Facility, the world's largest space environment simulation chamber.

L’Garde concluded its systems and deployment testing in July. The tests subjected the sail to temperatures as cold as minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit to simulate the conditions of space. The sail technology uses an inflatable, thermally rigidized boom system, which is heated prior to inflation and then becomes stiff in cold space environment conditions. The boom is the core of the support structure for the thin, reflective solar sail itself and includes a stowage structure and built-in deployment mechanism. Engineers used a computer-controlled boom pressurization system to initiate deployment of the boom and sail system.

ATK Space Systems completed testing of its 400-square-meter solar sail system in May. This sail employs a “coilable” graphite boom, extended or uncoiled via remote control -- much the way a screw is rotated to remove it from an object. The boom supports the lightweight sail, which is made of an aluminized, temperature-resistant material called CP-1. Named NASA's 1999 Invention of the Year, CP-1 was invented by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and is produced under exclusive license by SRS Technologies of Huntsville. The boom system also includes a central stowage structure and deployment mechanism.

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