Orbit control method for solar sail demonstrator IKAROS via spin rate control

It is well known that the thrust force of the solar sail due to the solar radiation pressure is changed by the orientation of the sail with respect to the Sun direction. Therefore, the orbit of the solar sail can be controlled by changing the attitude of the spacecraft. In this study, we consider the spinning solar power sail IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun), which succeeded to become the world's first flight solar sail in orbit. The IKAROS attitude, i.e. the spin-axis direction is nominally controlled by the rhumb-line control method. By utilizing the solar radiation pressure (SRP) torque, however, we are able to change the direction of the spin-axis only by controlling its spin rate. This is because the spin axis direction relates to the balance between the angular momentum of spinning and the SRP torque. Thus, we can control the solar sail's orbit by controlling the spin rate. The main objective in this study is to construct the orbit control strategy of the spinning solar sail via the spin rate control.