MIT Project Apophis: the SET Mission Design Document

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

MIT Project Apophis: the SET Mission Design Document MIT Project Apophis: The SET Mission Design Document 12.43/16.83 Space Systems Engineering May 18th, 2017 SET Mission Study Participants Students Andrew Adams Dylan Cohen Carlos Cruz Alissa Earle David Fellows Joseph Figura Roman Geykhman Justin Gong Jonas Gonzalez Paulo Heredia Nicholas James Diego Mundo Ellie Simonson Jeremy Stroming Max Vanatta Amy Vanderhout Emily Widder Tori Wuthrich Jim Clark Instructors Richard P. Binzel David Miller Jennifer Craig Jane Connor Christopher Jewison We would like to thank the many consultants who have patiently answered questions and provided valuable input and feedback over the semester: Farah Alibay (JPL) Cateline Lantz (MIT) Thomas Burbine (UMass) Rebecca Masterson (MIT) Dennis Burianek (MIT/LL) Jeff Mendenhall (MIT/LL) Mark Chodas (MIT) Ryan Park (JPL) Paul Chodas (JPL) Tom Roberts (JPL) Emily Clements (MIT) Christopher Semisch (MIT/LL) Mitch Ingham (JPL) Ellen Stofan (NASA) Lindley Johnson (NASA) Scott Uebelhart (MIT) Laura Kerber (JPL) Ryan Webb (JPL) Javier de Luis (Aurora) Dirk Zwemer (Intercax) 2 Contents Foreword 9 Executive Summary 10 0.1 Scientific Motivation . 10 0.2 Mission Objectives . 11 0.3 Science Payload . 11 0.3.1 LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) . 12 0.3.2 Ralph . 12 0.3.3 Radio Reflection Tomography Instrument (RRT) . 12 0.3.4 Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) . 12 0.4 Spacecraft . 12 0.5 Concept of Operations . 14 0.6 Conclusions . 14 1 Introduction & Systems Overview 15 1.1 Introduction . 15 1.1.1 Scientific Motivation . 15 1.1.2 Mission Objectives and Rationale . 16 1.1.3 Concept of Operations (CONOPS) . 17 1.2 Systems Overview . 20 1.2.1 System Requirements . 20 1.2.2 Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Effort . 20 1.2.3 Block Diagrams . 22 2 Launch, Navigation, and Attitude Control 25 2.1 Subsystem Requirements . 25 2.2 Launch Vehicle . 26 2.2.1 Launch Time and Location . 28 2.3 Propulsion System . 30 2.3.1 Trades, Downselect, and Rationale . 30 2.4 Trajectory . 36 2.4.1 Planetary Safety Considerations . 36 2.4.2 Trajectory Trade Space . 37 2.4.3 End-to-End Solar-Electric Trajectory . 40 2.4.4 Station-Keeping . 50 2.5 Rendezvous and Post-encounter Maneuvers . 53 3 Instrumentation 55 3.1 Overview of Requirements . 55 3.2 Instrument Trade Space . 56 3.3 Final Instrument Choices . 59 3.3.1 Ralph . 60 3.3.2 LORRI . 63 3.3.3 RRT . 63 3.3.4 TES . 66 3.4 Instrumentation Subsystem Risks . 66 3.5 Derived Requirements . 68 1 4 Communications and Data 70 4.1 Overview of Sub-System Requirements . 70 4.2 Summary of Subsystem . 71 4.3 Data Budget . 71 4.4 Trades, Downselect, and Rationale . 72 4.4.1 Frequency band Trade . 72 4.4.2 Selected Bands and Frequencies . 73 4.4.3 Pre-Processing Discussion . 74 4.5 Spacecraft Hardware Design . 74 4.5.1 Spacecraft Hardware Overview . 74 4.5.2 Data Storage . 76 4.5.3 Redundancy . 76 4.6 Ground Stations . 76 4.6.1 Deep Space . 76 4.6.2 Near Earth . 78 4.7 Coding . 78 4.8 Link Budgets . 79 4.8.1 Link Budget Methodology . 79 4.8.2 X-band High Gain Downlink, Maximum Distance . 80 4.8.3 X-band High Gain Uplink, Maximum Distance . 81 4.8.4 X-band Low Gain Downlink, During Earth Flyby . 82 4.8.5 X-band Low Gain Downlink, Maximum Distance . 83 4.9 Downlink Planning . 84 4.9.1 Downlink Data Rate . 84 4.9.2 Downlink Schedule . 84 4.10 Tracking . 85 4.11 Subsystem Risks . 86 5 Spacecraft Bus 88 5.1 Overview of Requirements . 88 5.2 Spacecraft Bus Trade Space . 88 5.2.1 Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) vs. Custom bus . 88 5.2.2 Choice of Bus . 89 5.3 Technical Characteristics . 90 5.3.1 Bus Characteristics . 90 5.3.2 Fuel System Changes . 93 5.3.3 Pointing System . 93 5.3.4 Thermal Control System . 94 5.3.5 Power System . 99 5.3.6 CAD Model . 101 5.4 Testing Requirements . 102 5.4.1 Maximum Load . 103 5.4.2 Thermal Control . 103 5.4.3 Powering Components . 104 5.5 SWaP Budget . 104 5.6 Subsystem Risks . 105 6 System-Level Summary 109 6.1 Consolidated SWaP Budget . ..
Recommended publications
  • Machine Learning Regression for Estimating Characteristics of Low-Thrust Transfers
    MACHINE LEARNING REGRESSION FOR ESTIMATING CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW-THRUST TRANSFERS A Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty By Gene L. Chen In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in the School of Aerospace Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology May 2019 Copyright c Gene L. Chen 2019 MACHINE LEARNING REGRESSION FOR ESTIMATING CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW-THRUST TRANSFERS Approved by: Dr. Dimitri Mavris, Advisor Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Alicia Sudol Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Michael Steffens Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: April 15, 2019 To my parents, thanks for the support. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank Dr. Dimitri Mavris for giving me the opportunity to pursue a Master’s degree at the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory. It has been quite the experience. Also, many thanks to my committee members — Dr. Alicia Sudol and Dr. Michael Steffens — for taking the time to review my work and give suggestions on how to improve - it means a lot to me. Additionally, thanks to Dr. Patel and Dr. Antony for helping me understand their work in trajectory optimization. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments . iv List of Tables . vii List of Figures . viii Chapter 1: Introduction and Motivation . 1 1.1 Thesis Overview . 4 Chapter 2: Background . 5 Chapter 3: Approach . 17 3.1 Scenario Definition . 17 3.2 Spacecraft Dynamics . 18 3.3 Choice Between Direct and Indirect Method . 19 3.3.1 Chebyshev polynomial method . 20 3.3.2 Sims-Flanagan method .
    [Show full text]
  • Astrodynamics
    Politecnico di Torino SEEDS SpacE Exploration and Development Systems Astrodynamics II Edition 2006 - 07 - Ver. 2.0.1 Author: Guido Colasurdo Dipartimento di Energetica Teacher: Giulio Avanzini Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aeronautica e Spaziale e-mail: [email protected] Contents 1 Two–Body Orbital Mechanics 1 1.1 BirthofAstrodynamics: Kepler’sLaws. ......... 1 1.2 Newton’sLawsofMotion ............................ ... 2 1.3 Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation . ......... 3 1.4 The n–BodyProblem ................................. 4 1.5 Equation of Motion in the Two-Body Problem . ....... 5 1.6 PotentialEnergy ................................. ... 6 1.7 ConstantsoftheMotion . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .... 7 1.8 TrajectoryEquation .............................. .... 8 1.9 ConicSections ................................... 8 1.10 Relating Energy and Semi-major Axis . ........ 9 2 Two-Dimensional Analysis of Motion 11 2.1 ReferenceFrames................................. 11 2.2 Velocity and acceleration components . ......... 12 2.3 First-Order Scalar Equations of Motion . ......... 12 2.4 PerifocalReferenceFrame . ...... 13 2.5 FlightPathAngle ................................. 14 2.6 EllipticalOrbits................................ ..... 15 2.6.1 Geometry of an Elliptical Orbit . ..... 15 2.6.2 Period of an Elliptical Orbit . ..... 16 2.7 Time–of–Flight on the Elliptical Orbit . .......... 16 2.8 Extensiontohyperbolaandparabola. ........ 18 2.9 Circular and Escape Velocity, Hyperbolic Excess Speed . .............. 18 2.10 CosmicVelocities
    [Show full text]
  • Call for M5 Missions
    ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use M5 Call - Technical Annex Prepared by SCI-F Reference ESA-SCI-F-ESTEC-TN-2016-002 Issue 1 Revision 0 Date of Issue 25/04/2016 Status Issued Document Type Distribution ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use Table of contents: 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Scope of document ................................................................................................................................................................ 3 1.2 Reference documents .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 List of acronyms ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3 2 General Guidelines ................................................................................................................ 6 3 Analysis of some potential mission profiles ........................................................................... 7 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 3.2 Current European launchers ...........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • JUICE Red Book
    ESA/SRE(2014)1 September 2014 JUICE JUpiter ICy moons Explorer Exploring the emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants Definition Study Report European Space Agency 1 This page left intentionally blank 2 Mission Description Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Key science goals The emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants Characterise Ganymede, Europa and Callisto as planetary objects and potential habitats Explore the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants Payload Ten instruments Laser Altimeter Radio Science Experiment Ice Penetrating Radar Visible-Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging Spectrometer Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph Imaging System Magnetometer Particle Package Submillimetre Wave Instrument Radio and Plasma Wave Instrument Overall mission profile 06/2022 - Launch by Ariane-5 ECA + EVEE Cruise 01/2030 - Jupiter orbit insertion Jupiter tour Transfer to Callisto (11 months) Europa phase: 2 Europa and 3 Callisto flybys (1 month) Jupiter High Latitude Phase: 9 Callisto flybys (9 months) Transfer to Ganymede (11 months) 09/2032 – Ganymede orbit insertion Ganymede tour Elliptical and high altitude circular phases (5 months) Low altitude (500 km) circular orbit (4 months) 06/2033 – End of nominal mission Spacecraft 3-axis stabilised Power: solar panels: ~900 W HGA: ~3 m, body fixed X and Ka bands Downlink ≥ 1.4 Gbit/day High Δv capability (2700 m/s) Radiation tolerance: 50 krad at equipment level Dry mass: ~1800 kg Ground TM stations ESTRAC network Key mission drivers Radiation tolerance and technology Power budget and solar arrays challenges Mass budget Responsibilities ESA: manufacturing, launch, operations of the spacecraft and data archiving PI Teams: science payload provision, operations, and data analysis 3 Foreword The JUICE (JUpiter ICy moon Explorer) mission, selected by ESA in May 2012 to be the first large mission within the Cosmic Vision Program 2015–2025, will provide the most comprehensive exploration to date of the Jovian system in all its complexity, with particular emphasis on Ganymede as a planetary body and potential habitat.
    [Show full text]
  • Mars Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (Swim): Radar Subsurface Reflectors
    50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2019 (LPI Contrib. No. 2132) 2069.pdf MARS SUBSURFACE WATER ICE MAPPING (SWIM): RADAR SUBSURFACE REFLECTORS. A. M. Bramson1, E. I. Petersen1, Z. M. Bain2, N. E. Putzig2, G. A. Morgan2, M. Mastrogiuseppe3, M. R. Perry2, I. B. Smith2, H. G. Sizemore2, D. M. H. Baker4, R. H. Hoover5, B. A. Campbell6. 1Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona ([email protected]), 2Planetary Science Institute, 3California Institute of Technology, 4NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 5Southwest Research Institute, 6Smithsonian Institution Introduction: The Subsurface Water Ice Mapping Consistency Mapping: To enable a quantitative as- (SWIM) in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, supports sessment of how consistent (or inconsistent) the various an effort by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program to de- remote sensing datasets are with the presence of shallow termine in situ resource availability. We are performing (<5 m) and deep (>5 m) ice across these regions, we in- global reconnaissance mapping as well as focused troduce the SWIM Equation. Outlined in detail by Perry multi-dataset mapping from 0º to 60ºN in four longitude et al. [this LPSC], the SWIM Equation yields con- bands: “Arcadia” (150–225ºE, which also contains our sistency values ranging between +1 and -1, where +1 pilot study region), “Acidalia” (290–360ºE), “Onilus” means that the data are consistent with the presence of (0–70ºE, which covers Deuteronilus and Protonilus ice, 0 means that the data give no indications of the pres- Mensae), and “Utopia” (70–150ºE). Our maps are being ence or absence of ice, and -1 means that the data are made available to the community on the SWIM Project inconsistent with the presence of ice.
    [Show full text]
  • Echostar Annual Report Year Ended December 31, 2012 March 20, 2013
    NASDAQ: SATS 100 Inverness Terrace East Englewood, CO 80112 303.706.4000 | echostar.com EchoStar Annual Report Year Ended December 31, 2012 March 20, 2013 Dear EchoStar Corporation Shareholders; 2012 was a very busy year for EchoStar. One of the most exciting accomplishments for 2012 was the addition of two new satellites to our growing fleet through the successful launches of EchoStar XVI and EchoStar XVII, bringing our total number of owned, leased and managed spacecraft to twenty-two. EchoStar operates the world’s fourth largest commercial geostationary satellite fleet and we continue to solidify our position as a premier global leader in satellite communications and operations. EchoStar ended 2012 with revenue of $3.1 billion, a growth of 13% over 2011. EBITDA in 2012 was $794 million, a growth of 64% over 2011. We generated a healthy $508 million of cash from operating activities in 2012 as a result primarily of the strong net income in 2012 and ended the year with a strong balance sheet with $1.5 billion of cash and marketable securities. EchoStar reached two very important long-term North America goals in 2012 with the market implementation of the HughesNet Gen4 service and the roll-out of the Hopper Whole Home DVR solution for DISH. Both solutions are garnering high praise and rapid adoption by consumers, a glowing testament to the capabilities and ingenuity of the EchoStar team. Additional notable accomplishments for 2012 include the very successful introduction of two new Slingbox retail products, several large enterprise contract renewals and new customers for Hughes data network services around the globe, and above-forecast sales of set-top-box products and video services to our established operator customers.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparison of the Orbital Properties of Jupiter Trojan Asteroids and Trojan Dust Xiaodong Liu and Jürgen Schmidt
    A&A 614, A97 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201832806 Astronomy & © ESO 2018 Astrophysics Comparison of the orbital properties of Jupiter Trojan asteroids and Trojan dust Xiaodong Liu and Jürgen Schmidt Astronomy Research Unit, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland e-mail: [email protected] Received 10 February 2018 / Accepted 7 March 2018 ABSTRACT In a previous paper we simulated the orbital evolution of dust particles from the Jupiter Trojan asteroids ejected by the impacts of interplanetary particles, and evaluated their overall configuration in the form of dust arcs. Here we compare the orbital properties of these Trojan dust particles and the Trojan asteroids. Both Trojan asteroids and most of the dust particles are trapped in the Jupiter 1:1 resonance. However, for dust particles, this resonance is modified because of the presence of solar radiation pressure, which reduces the peak value of the semi-major axis distribution. We find also that some particles can be trapped in the Saturn 1:1 resonance and higher order resonances with Jupiter. The distributions of the eccentricity, the longitude of pericenter, and the inclination for Trojans and the dust are compared. For the Trojan asteroids, the peak in the longitude of pericenter distribution is about 60 degrees larger than the longitude of pericenter of Jupiter; in contrast, for Trojan dust this difference is smaller than 60 degrees, and it decreases with decreasing grain size. For the Trojan asteroids and most of the Trojan dust, the Tisserand parameter is distributed in the range of two to three. Key words. meteorites, meteors, meteoroids – planets and satellites: rings – minor planets, asteroids: general – zodiacal dust – celestial mechanics – solar wind 1.
    [Show full text]
  • PRESS-KIT-VV19-08122021-EN.Pdf
    www.arianespace.com www.avio.com www.avio Arianespace’s seventh launch of 2021 with the second Vega of the year will place its satellite passengers into Sun-synchronous orbit. The launcher will be carrying a total payload of approximately 1 029 kg. The launch will be performed in Kourou, French Guiana. MISSION DESCRIPTION 2 PLÉIADES NEO 4 SATELLITE 3 Liftoff is planned on at exactly: FOUR AUXILIARY PAYLOADS 4 - 5 09:47 p.m. Washington, D.C. time, 10:47 p.m. Kourou time, VEGA LAUNCHER 6 01:47 a.m. Universal time (UTC), August 17, LAUNCH CAMPAIGN 7 03:47 a.m. Paris time, August 17, 10:47 a.m. Tokyo time, August 17. FLIGHT SEQUENCES 7 STAKEHOLDERS OF A LAUNCH 8 The nominal duration of the mission (from liftoff to separation of the satellites) is: 1 hour, 44 minutes and 59 seconds. Satellite: Pléiades Neo 4 Customer: Airbus Defence and Space - Intelligence Satellites: Four auxiliary payloads Cyrielle BOUJU [email protected] +33 (0)6 32 65 97 48 For Pléiades Neo For the four auxiliary payloads Francesco DE LORENZO • Perigee altitude: 614 km • Perigee altitude: 540 km [email protected] • Apogee altitude: 625 km • Apogee altitude: 554 km + 39 (0)6 97285317 • Inclination : 97.89 degrees • Inclination : 97.55 degrees First Pléiades Neo constellation satellites have been achieved within only five years, thanks to the hard work of over 500 people, across seven sites in Europe, to deliver first-class 14 km swath imagery at 30 cm native resolution, capable to daily collect up to 2 million km² and image the entire Earth landmass five times per year.
    [Show full text]
  • Orbital Fueling Architectures Leveraging Commercial Launch Vehicles for More Affordable Human Exploration
    ORBITAL FUELING ARCHITECTURES LEVERAGING COMMERCIAL LAUNCH VEHICLES FOR MORE AFFORDABLE HUMAN EXPLORATION by DANIEL J TIFFIN Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Science Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY January, 2020 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis of DANIEL JOSEPH TIFFIN Candidate for the degree of Master of Science*. Committee Chair Paul Barnhart, PhD Committee Member Sunniva Collins, PhD Committee Member Yasuhiro Kamotani, PhD Date of Defense 21 November, 2019 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. 2 Table of Contents List of Tables................................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ................................................................................................................. 6 List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 8 1. Introduction and Background.................................................................................. 14 1.1 Human Exploration Campaigns ....................................................................... 21 1.1.1. Previous Mars Architectures ..................................................................... 21 1.1.2. Latest Mars Architecture .........................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Method for Rapid Interplanetary Trajectory Analysis Using Δv Maps with Flyby Options
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DSpace@MIT METHOD FOR RAPID INTERPLANETARY TRAJECTORY ANALYSIS USING ΔV MAPS WITH FLYBY OPTIONS TAKUTO ISHIMATSU*, JEFFREY HOFFMAN†, AND OLIVIER DE WECK‡ Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Email: [email protected]*, [email protected]†, [email protected]‡ This paper develops a convenient tool which is capable of calculating ballistic interplanetary trajectories with planetary flyby options to create exhaustive ΔV contour plots for both direct trajectories without flybys and flyby trajectories in a single chart. The contours of ΔV for a range of departure dates (x-axis) and times of flight (y-axis) serve as a “visual calendar” of launch windows, which are useful for the creation of a long-term transportation schedule for mission planning purposes. For planetary flybys, a simple powered flyby maneuver with a reasonably small velocity impulse at periapsis is allowed to expand the flyby mission windows. The procedure of creating a ΔV contour plot for direct trajectories is a straightforward full-factorial computation with two input variables of departure and arrival dates solving Lambert’s problem for each combination. For flyby trajectories, a “pseudo full-factorial” computation is conducted by decomposing the problem into two separate full-factorial computations. Mars missions including Venus flyby opportunities are used to illustrate the application of this model for the 2020-2040 time frame. The “competitiveness” of launch windows is defined and determined for each launch opportunity. Keywords: Interplanetary trajectory, C3, delta-V, pork-chop plot, launch window, Mars, Venus flyby 1.
    [Show full text]
  • SHARAD Observations of Recent Geologic Features on Mars
    EPSC Abstracts Vol. 6, EPSC-DPS2011-1591-1, 2011 EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 c Author(s) 2011 SHARAD observations of recent geologic features on Mars N. E. Putzig (1), R. J. Phillips (1), J. W. Holt (2), I. B. Smith (2), L. M. Carter (3), and R. Seu (4) for the SHARAD Team. (1) Southwest Research Institute, Colorado, USA ([email protected]), (2) University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, USA, (4) Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Abstract NPLD stratigraphy consists of packets of brightly reflective layers alternating with relatively non- The Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument on the reflective zones, and these sequences can be Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) observes a correlated to orbit cycles, suggesting an age of ~4.2 variety of recent features on Mars, including deposits Ma [2]. In detail, the radar shows unconformities, of water ice at both poles and in the mid-latitudes, either within the reflective sequences or at their boundaries (Fig. 1). A history of alternating periods solid CO2 in the south polar region, and volcanics in the tropics and mid-latitudes. SHARAD’s view of of non-uniform deposition and erosion is recorded by subsurface layers sheds light on the history of these structures. In the upper ~500 m, discontinuities deposition and erosion in these terrains, with that trace to troughs observable at the surface map implications for the cycle of volatile exchange and out paths of trough migration over time. The for recent volcanism. poleward migration and SHARAD-observed thickness variations adjacent to the migration path are consistent with a mechanism of katabatic winds 1.
    [Show full text]
  • First Year of Coordinated Science Observations by Mars Express and Exomars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter
    MANUSCRIPT PRE-PRINT Icarus Special Issue “From Mars Express to ExoMars” https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113707 First year of coordinated science observations by Mars Express and ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter A. Cardesín-Moinelo1, B. Geiger1, G. Lacombe2, B. Ristic3, M. Costa1, D. Titov4, H. Svedhem4, J. Marín-Yaseli1, D. Merritt1, P. Martin1, M.A. López-Valverde5, P. Wolkenberg6, B. Gondet7 and Mars Express and ExoMars 2016 Science Ground Segment teams 1 European Space Astronomy Centre, Madrid, Spain 2 Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, Guyancourt, France 3 Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium 4 European Space Research and Technology Centre, Noordwijk, The Netherlands 5 Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Granada, Spain 6 Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica, Roma, Italy 7 Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, Paris, France Abstract Two spacecraft launched and operated by the European Space Agency are currently performing observations in Mars orbit. For more than 15 years Mars Express has been conducting global surveys of the surface, the atmosphere and the plasma environment of the Red Planet. The Trace Gas Orbiter, the first element of the ExoMars programme, began its science phase in 2018 focusing on investigations of the atmospheric composition with unprecedented sensitivity as well as surface and subsurface studies. The coordination of observation programmes of both spacecraft aims at cross calibration of the instruments and exploitation of new opportunities provided by the presence of two spacecraft whose science operations are performed by two closely collaborating teams at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC). In this paper we describe the first combined observations executed by the Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter missions since the start of the TGO operational phase in April 2018 until June 2019.
    [Show full text]