3 ms·
I'd guess the sail orientation is not changing relative to the sun, so at perigee this provides an acceleration (because it's mostly in the velocity direction),
by rzimmerman 7y ago
I'd guess the sail orientation is not changing relative to the sun, so at perigee this provides an acceleration (because it's mostly in the velocity direction), which raises apogee. At apogee it provides deceleration (because it's in the anti-velocity direction), which lowers perigee. There are also probably other effects depending on the sail orientation that muck with the inclination and other elements. It's a little different than drag which is always anti-velocity.
I have limited KSP experience and an aerospace degree, so I'd defer to someone with more KSP experience.
- adrianpike 7y agoAccording to the article though they're already adjusting orientation to adjust thrust, but possibly they saturate too fast and they can't control it enough to truly null the deceleration? > One such refinement involves LightSail 2's single momentum wheel, which rotates the spacecraft broadside and then edge-on to the Sun each orbit to turn the thrust from solar sailing on and off.
- raxxorrax 7y agoSince the relative position to the sun changes pretty slowly, I imagine they would need to wait half a year to raise the current periapsis. I doubt this is a sail that allows to beat to "wind"-ward.