The NASA Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) Flight Demonstration: A Technology Pathfinder for Practical Smallsat Solar Sailing
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) is developing a new generation of compactly packageable composite booms designed specifically for small spacecraft applications where volumes for deployable structures are limited. NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) will be the first spaceflight application of this boom technology. ACS3 will also be NASA’s first practical solar sail. Objectives of the ACS3 project are to deploy an 80 m2 composite boom solar sail in low Earth orbit, and as an extended goal, demonstrate controlled solar sailing flight, including orbit raising and lowering. An overview of the ACS3 project and objectives, including descriptions of ACS3’s solar sail structures and materials technology, 12U CubeSat spacecraft systems, and flight concept of operations, is provided here. Scalability of the ACS3 solar sail to future, near-term smallsat solar sailing mission requirements will also be discussed. Launch of ACS3 is currently anticipated for mid to late 2022.
DOI: 10.26077/px06-xg75
Author: Wilkie, Keats
Institution: Langley Research Center
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3196350303