Deviations from Keplerian Orbits for Solar Sails
Abstract
It is shown that the curvature of spacetime, a possible net electric charge on the sun, a small positive cosmological constant and the oblateness of the sun, in conjunction with solar radiation pressure (SPR), affect the bound orbital motion of solar sails and lead to deviations from Kepler's third law for heliocentric and non-Keplerian orbits. With regards to the Lense-Thirring effect, the SRP increases the amount of precession per orbit for polar orbits. Non-Keplerian polar orbits exhibit an analog of the Lense-Thirring effect in which the orbital plane precesses around the sun.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0907.3311,
title = {Deviations from Keplerian Orbits for Solar Sails},
author = {Roman Ya. Kezerashvili and Justin F. Vazquez-Poritz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0907.3311},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
6 pages, 2 figures. Proceedings of the Sixth IAA Symposium on Realistic Near-Term Advanced Scientific Space Missions. Missions to the Outer Solar System and Beyond, pp. 37- 42, Aosta, Italy, 6-9 July, 2009