A new study investigates the use of structural buckling as a control technique for solar sails.
According to a pre-print paper on arXiv by Gulzhan Aldan and Igor Bargatin from the University of Pennsylvania, this method involves intentionally creating cuts in the solar sail material to produce mechanical buckling.
This buckling changes the angle at which sunlight reflects off the sail and generates directional forces that can turn the spacecraft, as reported by Universe Today on December 27, 2025.
This approach differs from traditional methods such as reaction wheels, tip vanes, and Reflectivity Control Devices, offering a potentially more energy-efficient solution for sail maneuvering.
Solar sails have been controlled using three primary techniques, according to Universe Today on June 14, 2025.
Reaction wheels, which are spinning wheels used on most satellites, apply torque to rotate the sail and adjust orientation, but they require significant mass and can reach saturation, limiting their effectiveness for large, lightweight sails.
Tip vanes, small rotatable mirrors positioned at the edges of the sail, adjust trajectory by reflecting sunlight in a specific direction, but they are mechanically complex and introduce potential points of failure that can leave a sail unable to change orientation.
Reflectivity Control Devices, implemented on the Japanese IKAROS mission, utilize liquid crystal panels embedded in the sail material that can switch between reflective and absorptive states.
These devices generate torque by varying the momentum transfer from sunlight, allowing precise control of sail orientation.
However, they require continuous power to maintain their reflective state, even when not actively adjusting the sail, which can drain onboard batteries over extended missions.
Researchers have noted that while effective, these existing methods have limitations in energy efficiency, mechanical reliability, and operational complexity, which motivates exploration of alternative control techniques such as structural buckling.
The kirigami approach, described by Universe Today on December 27, 2025, involves making axial and diagonal cuts in the aluminized polyimide film used for solar sails.
When the film is pulled or stretched, the cuts allow sections of the material to buckle out of the plane, forming a three-dimensional surface.
Each buckled segment tilts relative to incoming sunlight, redirecting photons in different directions and generating forces that adjust the sail’s overall trajectory.
The study explains that servo motors provide the power to control these buckling segments, but they only consume energy when actively changing the sail’s shape, in contrast to RCDs that require continuous power.
This method creates thousands of small reflective surfaces across the sail, each producing a micro-force that contributes to turning the spacecraft.
The researchers designed the cuts as a grid of unit cells, allowing precise control over how each section buckles.
By combining multiple segments with different buckling angles, the sail can achieve controlled rotation in space without relying on heavy reaction wheels or mechanically complex tip vanes.
To validate the kirigami buckling technique, researchers conducted simulations and laboratory experiments, as reported by Universe Today on December 27, 2025.
Simulations used COMSOL software to perform ray tracing and measure forces under various buckling configurations and angles of sunlight.
Results indicated small forces of approximately 1 nN per Watt of sunlight, which accumulate over time to change the sail’s orientation and trajectory.
Laboratory experiments involved cutting film samples and placing them in a test chamber with a laser, then stretching the material while observing the laser’s movement across the chamber wall.
The observed movement closely matched the predicted angles from the simulations, demonstrating that the buckled segments effectively redirect light and generate the intended forces.
The research also confirmed that the approach can function with minimal power requirements, limited to the servo motors used for creating buckling, making it suitable for long-duration solar sail missions.
The study indicates that structural buckling could reduce energy and propellant needs for maneuvering solar sails, according to Universe Today on December 27, 2025, and June 14, 2025.
The method may be used in combination with existing technologies to provide more efficient attitude control for spacecraft.
While additional in-space testing is required, the research suggests that kirigami buckling could enable longer-duration missions with lower operational power consumption.
The technique could also allow smaller spacecraft and cubesats to achieve controlled rotation without relying on heavy or complex hardware, improving feasibility for deep space missions where power and mass constraints are critical.
Stay tuned for more updates.
TOPICS: Solar sails, Kirigami solar sail, Reflectivity control devices, Spacecraft attitude control, Structural buckling
