Comment by Cthulhu_
8 years ago
I'm now imagining a craft that folds up its solar panels before dipping into the atmosphere to gather fuel / accelerate. I'm sure I've built that in KSP, :p.
8 years ago
I'm now imagining a craft that folds up its solar panels before dipping into the atmosphere to gather fuel / accelerate. I'm sure I've built that in KSP, :p.
That is not particulary far-fetched either: the ISS already reorients its solar panels when not illuminated by the sun. They call it the "night glider mode" [1].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Glider_mode
Night Glider sounds vaguely like some 80s TV show. I do hope everyone on board is required to wear non-functional sunglasses during night glide.
> The implementation of drag-reducing flight modes of the space station resulted in saving about 1,000 kg of orbital-maintenance propellant per year.
Here's an example where the authors propose doing this for planetary gravity assists, e.g., instead of using Venus for a normal gravity assist, dig into its atmosphere. Everything would need to be folded up first.
"Hypersonic Interplanetary Flight: Aero Gravity Assist"
Al Bowers & Dan Banks, 2006
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/200900...
Discussed in a podcast here: https://theorbitalmechanics.com/show-notes/al-bowers