Abstract
<jats:p>The study of the motion of spacecraft with a solar sail is related to the projects that have been actively developed recently for flights to the borders of the solar system and their use for maneuvering in the vicinity of libration points. When planning and im- plementing these projects, it is necessary to take into account the change in the properties of the sail surface during flight. In particular, as shown earlier, the electric charge induced on the surface of the sail leads to deformation of its surface. The present work is devoted to the study of the effect of deformation of the sail surface on its dynamics. For certainty, the movement along the Tsander trajectory of the flight from Earth’s orbit to Mars’ orbit is chosen. It is shown that even for small relative deformations of the sail surface, the trajectory deviation from the calculated one can exceed the radius of Mars. The results obtained make it possible to determine the optimal parameters of the transverse stiffeners of the solar sail for the realization of permissible relative deformations in the Earth’s orbit.</jats:p>