Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently announced its solar power sail demonstrator craft called “IKAROS ” has successfully unfurled its solar sail and is now being powered by solar pressure. JAXA says IKAROS has generated the largest amount of acceleration through photon power in interplanetary flight in history.
JAXA is engaged in two missions to evaluate the performance of solar power sails. The first mission, IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) was launched with the Venus Climate Orbiter “AKATSUKI” and is the world’s first solar powered sail craft employing both photon propulsion and thin film solar power generation for its interplanetary journey.
The solar sail used by IKAROS is made from polyimide resin, is 14 meters in diameter and an incredibly thin 0.0075 mm; thinner than human hair. Covering the membrane of the sail are thin film solar cells, control devices and scientific observation sensors. The solar sail membrane was deployed using the centrifugal force of spinning the main body of the IKAROS.
Aside from proving the potential of the use of solar sails to propel spacecraft, the two observation devices on IKAROS will evaluate dust distribution in the region of inner planets and observe polarization and direction of gamma ray bursts, which are thought to be explosion phenomena triggered by the birth of a star.
Previous attempts at demonstrating solar sail technology were carried out by the Planetary Society in the United States in 2001 and 2005, but both missions failed due to rocket trouble.
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