Calculating radiation force on carbon fiber gossamer space sailcraft

Solar sails are ultra-lightweight, propellantless spacecraft that obtain propulsion from the Sun's electromagnetic emissions or other concentrated sources such as powerful lasers. Advances in materials processing and deployment practices have led to the development of practical missions for such sails. In order for sailcraft to meet the requirements of future missions, sail materials will need to be light, strong and capable of tolerating high temperatures. Carbon fiber is a material that can satisfy such requirements. Carbon-fiber sails can have very small areal mass density and are immune to UV degradation and can withstand high temperatures. Such a carbon fiber material, manufactured by Energy Science Laboratories Inc. of San Diego was fabricated by "node-bonding" 10 /spl mu/m diameter carbon fibers. To employ these carbon fiber microtruss materials efficiently for thrust and attitude control, it is useful to understand the electromagnetic response of these structures and compute the force exerted on them.