The Aurora project: Removal of plastic substrate to obtain an all-metal solar sail

The Orbital Angular Momentum Reversal (H-Reversal mode), is a new class of trajectories to get a cruise speed ranging from 12 to 20 AU/yr. To accompli sh the H-reversal mode, a sailcraft needs of all metal solar sail. The sola r sail envisaged by the "AURORA Project" is composed of two metallic layers (Aland CF) deposited on plastic substrate. To obtain an all metal solar sa il, required by the Project, the substrate must be removed in orbit. In ord er to accomplish that, two possible methods are described in this paper. Th e first: one is based on the UV degradation of a buffer layer located betwe en the substrate and the metallic layers. The UV degradation would be the s tarting mechanism that causes the interface weakness. The Diamond Like Carb on has been used as buffer layer and preliminary experimental results on it s UV degradation are reported. The second method exploits the characteristi c of most plastics to be etched (ashing process) by the atomic oxygen. The number density of atomic oxygen in Low Earth Orbit could be enough to remov e a properly-selected plastic substrate in short time. (C) 1999 Published b y Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.