Recent advances in space sailing missions and technology: review of the 6th International Symposium on Space Sailing (ISSS 2023)

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent technological advances and experimental demonstrations in space sailing, highlighting innovative concepts, hardware, and future mission applications discussed at ISSS 2023.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments, analyses, and promising results in space sailing technologies presented at the symposium.

Findings

Successful demonstrations of solar sailing missions like IKAROS, NanoSail-D2, and LightSail-2.

Advancements in hardware, control strategies, and testing for space sailing.

Future mission concepts and solutions for known limitations in space sailing.

Abstract

The 6th International Symposium on Space Sailing (ISSS 2023) took place on June 5-9, 2023 at the New York City College of Technology, the City University of New York. Since its inauguration in Herrsching (Germany, 2007), the ISSS has been held in New York (USA, 2010), Glasgow (UK, 2013), Kyoto (Japan, 2017) and Aachen (Germany, 2019). During the five-day symposium, participants from 14 countries gathered to discuss recent advances in space sailing, investigating new concepts and designs, describing innovative hardware and enabling technologies, strategies for dynamics and control, and providing updates on testing results for systems under development and future mission applications. As part of the 18 sessions, almost 50 oral presentations were held and, subsequently, 17 papers were submitted for review and publication. This paper aims to give an overview of all the cutting-edge technologies, detailed analysis and promising results shared with the scientific community as part of the event. Following the noteworthy deployment of the world's first solar sail IKAROS in 2010, missions like NanoSail-D2 (2011) and LightSail-2 (2019) have showcased the potential of solar sailing technology through successful demonstrations. Besides highlighting advancements in present and future programs, the symposium was an opportunity to reflect on objectives, design and test results from research centers and universities, as well as illustrate applications for interstellar travel, evaluate degrading performance and suggest alternative solutions for known limitations. The following Symposium is scheduled for early summer 2025 and will be hosted by TU Delft.