Testing of a 10-meter Quadrant Solar Sail

The purpose of this paper is to address the technical challenges and requirements of modal testing a solar sail system (Fig. 1). Specific objectives of this work are to investigate the effectiveness (i.e. accuracy, precision, repeatability, etc.) of laser vibrometer measurements obtained on solar sail components (i.e. sail membrane quadrant and masts) actuated with various excitation methods in vacuum conditions. Results from this work will be used to determine the appropriate test technique for testing large scale full quadrant flight-like solar sail system hardware in vacuum conditions. This paper will focus on the dynamic tests conducted in-vacuum on a 10-meter solar sail quadrant development by AEC-ABLE as part of a ground demonstrator system development program funded by NASA's In-Space Propulsion program. One triangular shaped quadrant of a solar sail membrane (Fig. 2) was modal tested in a 1 Torr vacuum environment using various excitation techniques including, shaker excitation through the masts, magnetic excitation (Ref. 3), and surface-bonded piezoelectric patch actuators (Ref. 4 & 5). The excitation methods are evaluated for their applicability to in-vacuum ground testing and their traceability to the development of on-orbit flight test techniques. The solar sail masts (Fig. 3) were also tested in ambient atmospheric conditions and vacuum using various excitation techniques and these methods will also be assessed for their ground test capabilities and traceability to on-orbit flight testing.