Solar sail optimal maneuvers for heliocentric orbit apse line rotation

The aim of this work is to investigate the performance of a solar sail-based spacecraft in an optimal apse line rotation maneuver. Considering a heliocentric two-body motion and a low-performance solar sail with an ideal force model, this study derives the optimal steering law that maximizes the final rotation angle of the osculating orbit apse line. Starting from an approximated (Gaussian) form of the Lagrange's planetary equations, the achievable argument of periapsis and the required flight times are obtained in a parametric way, for given values of parking orbit eccentricity and sail (reference) propulsive acceleration, as the solutions of an optimal control problem. The numerical simulations show that, for sufficiently large values of the orbit eccentricity, the maximum argument of periapsis is roughly proportional to the sail (reference) propulsive acceleration. An approximate locally-optimal steering law is also derived, and the results of the optimization problem are applied to Earth-and Venus-following orbits, where the planets trajectories are assumed to be circular and coplanar with the spacecraft parking orbit.