The electric solar wind sail, or E-sail, is a propalentless propulsion system concept. We are working on demonstrating it in the low Earth orbit's ionosphere and, later on, in the lunar orbit's solar wind. The E-sail is developed and prepared for demonstration by Aurora Propulsion Technologies and FORESAIL consortium in Finland, as well as the MSCA Doctoral Network E-Sailors across Europe, led by the University of Tartu in Estonia. The E-sail enables new types of interplanetary missions, not possible with chemical and electric propulsion, such as 1) deploying a feel of nanospacecraft to the main belt; 2) achieving non-Keplerian orbits, for example, to place a probe between the Sun and L1 point and still move with the same yearly angular velocity as the Earth; 3) raising the inclination; and 4) travelling to the solar gravitational lens focal point.

1. Andris Slavinskis
Electric solar wind sail:
ESTCube-LuNa demonstration concept and exciting applications

2. Credit: Space Travel Blog / Jansone / NASA / ESA / JAXA / UT Tartu

3. Credit: Space Travel Blog / Rute Marta Jansone

4. Credit: Space Travel Blog /

5. Credit: Space Travel Blog / Kaasik

6. ESTCube-1
• Project started in 2008 to develop and launch the first satellite of
Estonia
• First electric solar wind sail in-orbit experiment
• 10-metre tether interactions with ionospheric plasma
• Built by students in Estonia and international partners
• Launched in 2013 with Vega
• Satellite worked very well
• Motor was jammed and the sail could not be deployed
https://space-travel.blog/ec1-1st-818b12cb4d53
https://space-travel.blog/ec1-2nd-b0fe7e77697a

16. Credit: Space Travel Blog / Jansone, Maskava, Palos

17. Credit: Space Travel Blog / Jansone, Maskava, Palos

18. Credit: Space Travel Blog / Jansone, Maskava, Palos

19. Credit: ESTCube / Kaasik

22. Credit: ESTCube / Kaasik

25. Credit: ESTCube / Slavinskis, Janhunen, Tajmar, Ivchenko, Palos, Maskava, Jansone, first appeared in Palos et al. 2023

26. Credit: ESTCube / Slavinskis, Janhunen, Tajmar, Ivchenko, Palos, Maskava, Jansone , first appeared in Slavinskis et al. 2024

27. Credit: ESTCube / Slavinskis, Aas, Palos, Janhunen, first appeared in Slavinskis et al. 2024
Credit: Crystalspace

28. Credit: ESTCube / Slavinskis, Kütt, Vaivads, Dalbins, Allik, Donerblics, Aas, Palos, Moor, Maskava, Jansone, first appeared in Slavinskis et

29. Credit:
ESTCube
Credit: Ventspils University of Applied
Sciences
Credit: EnduroSat
Credit: ESTCube / Slavinskis, Kütt, Moor
Credit: ISISPACE

30. Credit: Space Travel Blog / ESTCube / UT Tartu Observatory / Palos, Jansone, Maskava, first appeared in Slavinskis et al. 2024

31. Credit: Space Travel Blog / ESTCube / TU Dresden / Crystalspace / UT Tartu Observatory / Palos, Jansone, Maskava

32. Credit: Space Travel Blog / ESTCube / TU Dresden / Crystalspace / UT Tartu Observatory / Palos, Jansone, Maskava
Credit: TU Dresden / Peiffer, Tajma

34. Credit:
Space
Travel
Blog
/
Jansone
/
Janhunen
Credit:
Iakubivskyi
et
al.
2021
Credit:
Janhunen,
first
appeared
in
Slavinskis
et
al.
2018

35. Credit: Mengali and Quarta
Applications of Non-Keplerian Orbits
(NKOs)
• Observation of Sun’s polar regions (Wenzel et al.
1992)
• Probe out-of-ecliptic interplanetary space which
contains less gas and dust from the Solar System
formation
• Solar weather spacecraft between L1 and the Sun
for increased warning time (idea by Janhunen)
• General case: New Lagrange Points (McInnes 1999)
• Light Levitated Geostationary Cylindrical Orbits are
Feasible (Baig and McInnes 2010)
• Displaced planet-centred orbits (McInnes 1999)
• 100 AU Missions (McInnes 1999)
Credit: McInnes 1999