Deorbiting of low-earth orbit spacecraft using a sail for solar radiation pressure force augmentation

The efficient mechanism to deorbit a small satellite from low-earth orbits higher than 700 km using a sail augmenting the solar radiation pressure force is presented. It is shown that a dramatic gain in deorbit time is achieved in comparison with the common drag sail approach when the sail normal is stabilized along the satellite velocity vector direction. The issue of stability with respect to both initial conditions and sailcraft parameters is studied for the desired quasiperiodic attitude motion of a sailcraft.