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Work on the Optical Plane Solar Propulsion concept initiated by kbd512 in 2024 is proceeding in other topics.
This topic is about how that ship would be navigated to perform it's duties in LEO.
The topic may be extended at some point to consider locations other than LEO, but for the moment, concentration is on a business activity of pushing customer payloads out of LEO.
Post 3 will open the topic with a discussion with ChatGPT4o about how this topic might develop.
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This post is reserved for an index to posts that may be contributed by NewMars members over time:
Index:
Post #3: Opening session with ChatGPT4o on navigation and operation of a solar powered space tug
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Below is a transcript of an opening discussion with ChatGPT4o about how a solar powered space tug might navigate in LEO to push a customer payload toward the Moon or other Solar System destinations.
This post is the first of what I hope will be a series on navigation of kbd512's Solar Powered Space Tug.
As often happens as I work with ChatGPT4o, it comes up with ideas that had not occurred to me. I'd been thinking of gimbal capability for the 40,000,000 optical captures devices mounted on the wings, but you have pointed out another option! If we can adjust the angle of the wings with respect to the fuselage, then we are automatically afforded a greater range of possible attitudes that would be available with a fixed wing mount. I expect the wing angle adjustment option would be less expensive than gimbals for all 40,000,000 optical devices. An issue to be addressed is the flexibility needed for the optical feed lines. In our initial design, we have assumed the optical feed lines will not flex after installation, except for very minor changes due to temperature changes during flight. For now, let's assume the wings are not adjustable, and the optical devices are fixed in position. Please prepare a BBCode report of our discussion to this point. We have an opportunity to share our thought process with the forum audience.
***ChatGPT said:
Certainly! Below is a BBCode-formatted report summarizing our discussion so far. This version is tailored for your forum audience, preserving technical clarity while remaining accessible to those following the Solar Vessel development effort:Mission Planning for Solar-Powered Space Tug: LEO to Lunar Orbit
Purpose: The mission under consideration is a representative customer request: to move a 100-ton payload from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to lunar orbit using our solar-powered space tug. The spacecraft collects energy from 40 million optical devices mounted on extended wings. These devices are designed to receive and transport solar energy for propulsion and possibly other subsystems.
Objective: Define propulsion requirements and evaluate navigation strategies to accomplish the transfer.
Starting Assumption: Payload begins in equatorial LEO.
End Goal: Delivery to a useful lunar orbit.
Discussion Points:
Solar collectors produce peak energy when perpendicular to sunlight, but still function at other angles.
Navigator must balance spacecraft attitude and solar input angle to optimize thrust over time.
Solar sail missions face similar navigation challenges—this mission helps illustrate such tradeoffs.
Initial designs assumed fixed wing angles and fixed optical devices.
Each optical device connects to a delivery system via non-flexible optical feed lines.
Current configuration allows only minor flexing due to temperature variation.
ChatGPT raised a key design insight: Adjusting the wing angle with respect to the fuselage (instead of gimbaling every optical device) could enhance solar incidence optimization.
This alternative could offer a simpler, less expensive design path—but would require rethinking optical feed routing and flexibility.
For the current planning phase, we assume fixed wing and device positions to proceed with navigation analysis under conservative constraints.
Next Steps:
Define the LEO orbit altitude and lunar destination orbit.
Clarify propulsion system parameters (mass, thrust, Isp, power profile).
Estimate solar incidence losses during transfer.
Design a propulsion timeline: LEO spiral, transfer arc, lunar capture.
We welcome comments and insights from our forum members as we begin this exciting phase of planning for autonomous navigation and economic operation of a solar-powered tug vessel.
Would you like me to include a placeholder chart or image suggestion that illustrates the wing vs. Sun angle tradeoff for a later post?
In another topic, it has been established that the nozzle of the Optical Plane Space Tug cannot be gimbaled, because the Heat Pipe is long and a flexible coupling between heat pipe and nozzle subsystem seems unlikely to be feasible.
For that reason, it was proposed that the docking mechanism on the Space Tug might be gimbaled. The matching interface on the customer vessel would be fixed in place, so that the tug could clamp security to it.
The need for the ability to adjust attitude of the solar wings might be met by adding a capability to the gimbaled docking mechanism. We already anticipate the need to be able to align the thrust from the tug with the Center of Mass of the customer vessel. The ability of the docking mechanism to rotate would improve options for the spacecraft navigator to stay on course while obtaining maximum energy from the Sun.
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