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arXiv · 1805.05864

Flying on a Rainbow: A Solar-Driven Diffractive Sailcraft

Grover A. Swartzlander Jr
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Abstract

Radiation pressure afforded by natural broadband sunlight upon a transmissive diffractive sail is theoretically and numerically investigated. A grating period of one micrometer is found to convert 83% of the solar black body spectrum into sailcraft momentum. Non-optimized orbit-raising trajectories for diffractive and reflective sails are compared. Potential advantages of diffractive sails are also described.

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Grover A. Swartzlander Jr. 2018-05-15. Flying on a Rainbow: A Solar-Driven Diffractive Sailcraft. https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.05864

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