Technological requirements for a passively attitude stabilized solar orbiter

The paper represents an intermediate issue of a research project targeting a possible low cost probe to investigate the Sun. The proposed design involves a passively attitude stabilized, conical shaped spacecraft which continuously keeps its rotation axis directed towards the Sun. The mission analysis is here pursued with particular emphasis to thermal aspects. A simulation code has been arranged especially to solve the thermal field of the problem along the orbit. Equilibrium temperature is obtained as function of the distance from the Sun, and several test cases, including different characteristics for material absorptance and emission as well as for the solar cell distribution on the probe surface, have been investigated