3-D simulations of rigid microwave-propelled sails including spin

This paper discusses the three-dimensional (3-D) stability of carbon fiber sail structures (beam riders) that are being studied in a series of experiments at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and U.C. Irvine by a team led by Microwave Sciences, Inc. The stability analysis is developed for a limited set of conical sail configurations, and the code described in this paper has been developed at JPL by one of the coauthors. The assumptions in the model and the principles behind the simulation, in addition to their relationship to earlier experiments utilizing disk configurations are discussed. Results of stability analyses for several beam rider configurations will be presented at the Forum.