Orbital dynamics of a solar sail accelerated by thermal desorption of\n coatings

In this study we considered a solar sail coated with materials that undergo\nthermal desorption at a specific temperature, as a result of heating by solar\nradiation at a particular heliocentric distance. Three different scenarios,\nthat only differ in the way the sail approaches the Sun, were analyzed and\ncompared. In every case once the perihelion is reached, the sail coat undergoes\nthermal desorption. When the desorption process ends, the sail then escapes the\nSolar System having the conventional acceleration due to solar radiation\npressure. Thermal desorption here comes as an additional source of solar sail\nacceleration beside traditional propulsion systems for extrasolar space\nexploration. The compared scenarios are the following: i. Hohmann transfer plus\nthermal desorption. In this scenario the sail would be carried as a payload to\nthe perihelion with a conventional propulsion system by an Hohmann transfer\nfrom Earth's orbit to an orbit very close to the Sun (almost at 0.1 AU) and\nthen be deployed there. ii. Elliptical transfer plus Slingshot plus thermal\ndesorption. In this scenario the transfer occurs from Earth's orbit to\nJupiter's orbit. A Jupiter's fly-by leads to the orbit close to the Sun, where\nthe sail is deployed. iii. Two stage acceleration of the solar sail through\nthermal desorption. The proposed sail has two coats of the materials that\nundergo thermal desorption at different temperatures depending on the\nheliocentric distance. The first desorption occurs at the Earth orbit and\nprovides the thrust needed to propel the solar sail toward the Sun. The second\ndesorption is equivalent to that of the other scenarios.\n