利用太阳光压作为推进的太阳帆航天器可以适应范围更广的深空探测空间任务。太阳帆薄膜材料的选用对太阳帆总重量起着决定性的因素，太阳帆的结构设计和材料选择是影响其性能的重要因素。文章对太阳帆薄膜基底材料特性和被覆材料选用依据进行了探讨。针对典型太阳帆———圆形太阳帆、正方形太阳帆和直升机式太阳帆不同的展开方式，及自旋展开结构中薄膜的折叠方式进行了分析，并介绍了美国“宇宙1号”和日本“Ikaros”太阳帆具体展开方式及在轨试验情况。最后对我国开展太阳帆研究提出了建议。%Solar sails reflect photons streaming from the sun and convert some of the energy into thrust. Solar sails pro-vide a wide range of opportunities for deep space exploration missions. The structures and materials are critical factors for solar sails. The features of different membrane substrate materials and membrane material selection were discussed. The sail membrane materials for some typical solar sail designs were reviewed. The typical deployment methods of spinning disk sail, square sail and heliogyro sail were introduced. The existing membrane folding patterns were also classified. The current situ-ation of the orbital tests of Cosmos 1 and Ikaros deployable structure research are summarized. In the end, the development in this field of China is suggested.
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