Abstract A Smart Dust is a propellantless femtosatellite, with a characteristic side length of a few millimeters and a high value of its area-to-mass ratio. It exploits the solar radiation pressure to create a propulsive acceleration sufficient enough to substantially affect its orbital dynamics. A number of new mission concepts may thus be envisaged, where the Smart Dust is either used as a single spacecraft or, more often, within a swarm of objects that communicate and exchange information among them. This paper discusses the state of the art of the Smart Dust concept, which has received a major boost by the rise of small satellite market and by the new manufacturing technologies of miniaturized electric and mechanical components. After a general description of the basic architecture of a Smart Dust, this work concentrates on the analysis of its dynamics in both heliocentric and geocentric mission scenarios, and highlights the different available approaches. An overview of possible mission applications is presented, and potential future developments and technological challenges are investigated.

中文翻译：

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Smart Dust 架构、动力学和任务应用的回顾

摘要 智能尘埃是一种无推进剂的毫微微卫星，其特征边长为几毫米，面积质量比值很高。它利用太阳辐射压力产生足以显着影响其轨道动力学的推进加速度。因此，可以设想许多新的任务概念，其中智能尘埃要么用作单个航天器，要么更常见地在一群物体中使用，在它们之间进行通信和交换信息。本文讨论了 Smart Dust 概念的最新技术，该概念受到小型卫星市场的兴起和小型化电气和机械部件的新制造技术的重大推动。在大致描述了一个 Smart Dust 的基本架构之后，这项工作的重点是在日心和地心任务场景中分析其动力学，并强调了不同的可用方法。概述了可能的任务应用，并调查了潜在的未来发展和技术挑战。