Astronomical Engineering Revisited: Planetary Orbit Modification Using Solar Radiation Pressure |
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Authors: | Colin R McInnes |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland, U.K. |
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Abstract: | As the Sun evolves along the main sequence its luminosity will grow, leading to a steadily increasing solar flux at the Earth
with corresponding catastrophic consequences for the biosphere. A novel means of avoiding this terminal route to human evolution
has recently been proposed by Korycansky et al. which utilises a series of grazing fly-pasts of the Earth with a small solar
system body to increase the orbit radius of the Earth over a timescale of order 109 years. This short paper will propose an alternative strategy which utilises a large reflective sail to generate a propulsive
thrust due to solar radiation pressure. It will be shown that if the sail is configured to be in static equilibrium relative
to the Earth, the centre-of-mass of the Earth-sail system slowly accelerates. This scheme offers some advantages in that the
mass of the sail is four orders of magnitude less than the mass to be processed in the scheme of Korycanskyet al. for trajectory
correction manoeuvres alone. In addition, the severe hazard posed by multiple grazing fly-pasts of the Earth by a small solar
system body is avoided. Although offering significant advantages, any thoughts of engineering on an astronomical scale clearly
requires a leap of the imagination and a ready use of liberal assumptions.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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