High Thermal Performance Booms and Integrated ACS

Opterus proposes the development of High Thermal Performance Booms enabling low complexity, mass efficient solar sail attitude control systems for missions 0.40 AU and nearer to the Sun. Solar sails harness radiation pressure from the Sun for propulsion, negating the need for exhaustible propellants. As solar sails travel closer to the Sun their operational efficiency increases. This can be leveraged for dynamic orbital sling shot maneuvers around the Sun to achieve high velocities for interstellar exploration. Additionally, the increased solar radiation pressure allows solar sails to combat the Sun’s gravitational pull to achieve rapid decelerations for observational missions near the sun. To take advantage of the strong radiation pressure near the Sun, solar sail components must be able to survive and operate in the inherently more extreme thermal environment. With the funding allocated for this program high performance boom architectures will be adapted for manufacturability with high thermal performance materials that will enable the structure integrated attitude control approach previously developed by Opterus. This technology will address current gaps in thermal survivability for sail controls and structures enabling near term and future science missions for NASA and NOAA.

The proposed technology development is specifically applicable to NASAs Heliophysics Division and Planetary Sciences. Heliophysics missions including high inclination solar imaging and fixed position observational missions greatly benefit from solar sails ability achieve continuous thrust for long periods of time for sustained station keeping. Planetary Science missions to Mercury can leverage solar sails for rapid decelerations allowing them to overcome the Suns gravitational pull for reduced transit time. Additionally, Mercury has a very high orbital velocity which can be challenging to achieve with traditional propulsion methods. Solar sails also enable large DeltaVs for interstellar travel. Dynamic orbital slingshot maneuvers around the Sun using solar sails enable large initial velocities to reduce transit time for deep space exploration. The proposed technology development aims to overcome current technology gaps in solar sailing to increase their commercial viability. Near-term missions include NASA’s Gen 1 sail planned to fly in Q4, 2029. This mission will demonstrate sail-enabled, non-Keplerian sub-L1 halo orbit. Opterus’ HSC booms offer demonstrated near term capabilities and significant performance increases over commercially available TRAC booms and CTMs. Another near-term opportunity is with NASA GSFC for their SCOPE (Science Craft for Outer Planet Exploration) mission, aimed toward solar sail enabled deep space exploration. Opterus’ current boom technology provides extremely low mass high performance alternatives to current sail structures.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.