• Deya Sinha Roy
• Souvik Maity

The exploration of the vast dimension of the universe has made human race make extensive use of propellants for space expeditions, especially in long duration voyages. The application of solar sails, which derive momentum from solar radiation pressure, thus undergoing continuous acceleration, has apparently solved this problem. Yet, it has been observed that numerous solar sails fail to deploy in space, when needed; and the required area-to-mass ratio remains unachieved, rendering the solar sails useless. The idea of using bots, with behavior similar to boids, in deploying a solar sail is what this paper proposes. This can purportedly solve the aforementioned problem of failed deployments. The paper initially proposes the concept of time dependent boid behavior in an extended model of boids, which wholly works towards the first proposed deployment mechanism of solar sails, in bots. Later, another extended model of the boids system has been proposed, which introduces the idea of inter-boidal forces, to play a

Solar sail, solar sailing, deployment, boid, inter-boidal force, stowed, deployed, bots, separation, collision avoidance, velocity matching, centre flocking

"Solar Sail Deployment Mechanisms: Bots with Variable Separation Vector and Inter-Boidal Force", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.2, Issue 11, page no.51-59, November-2015, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1511011.pdf

"Solar Sail Deployment Mechanisms: Bots with Variable Separation Vector and Inter-Boidal Force", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.2, Issue 11, page no. pp51-59, November-2015, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1511011.pdf