Thrust and Attitude Evaluation of Magnetic Sail by Three-Dimensional Hybrid Particle-in-Cell Code

A magnetic sail generates a propulsive force using the interaction between the solar wind and an artificial magnetosphere generated by a hoop coil. To investigate the electromagnetic thrust characteristics of the magnetic sail, such as the values of the drag, lift, transverse force, and pitching moment, three-dimensional hybrid (ion particle and electron fluid) particle-in-cell simulations are conducted in the range from the ion inertial scale to the magnetohydrodynamic scale. The drag values calculated in the different magnetic moment directions to the solar wind flow direction agree to within a factor of 2. The attitude of spacecraft is stable when the magnetic moment vector is perpendicular to the solar wind flow direction. It is found that these two results do not depend on the size of the magnetosphere. [PUBLISHER ABSTRACT]