Gravity-Assist Trajectories to Jupiter Using Nuclear Electric Propulsion
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Electric Propulsion System Scaling for Asteroid Capture-And-Return Missions
Electric propulsion system scaling for asteroid capture-and-return missions Justin M. Little⇤ and Edgar Y. Choueiri† Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544 The requirements for an electric propulsion system needed to maximize the return mass of asteroid capture-and-return (ACR) missions are investigated in detail. An analytical model is presented for the mission time and mass balance of an ACR mission based on the propellant requirements of each mission phase. Edelbaum’s approximation is used for the Earth-escape phase. The asteroid rendezvous and return phases of the mission are modeled as a low-thrust optimal control problem with a lunar assist. The numerical solution to this problem is used to derive scaling laws for the propellant requirements based on the maneuver time, asteroid orbit, and propulsion system parameters. Constraining the rendezvous and return phases by the synodic period of the target asteroid, a semi- empirical equation is obtained for the optimum specific impulse and power supply. It was found analytically that the optimum power supply is one such that the mass of the propulsion system and power supply are approximately equal to the total mass of propellant used during the entire mission. Finally, it is shown that ACR missions, in general, are optimized using propulsion systems capable of processing 100 kW – 1 MW of power with specific impulses in the range 5,000 – 10,000 s, and have the potential to return asteroids on the order of 103 104 tons. − Nomenclature -
Optimisation of Propellant Consumption for Power Limited Rockets
Delft University of Technology Faculty Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics Optimisation of Propellant Consumption for Power Limited Rockets. What Role do Power Limited Rockets have in Future Spaceflight Missions? (Dutch title: Optimaliseren van brandstofverbruik voor vermogen gelimiteerde raketten. De rol van deze raketten in toekomstige ruimtevlucht missies. ) A thesis submitted to the Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics as part to obtain the degree of BACHELOR OF SCIENCE in APPLIED MATHEMATICS by NATHALIE OUDHOF Delft, the Netherlands December 2017 Copyright c 2017 by Nathalie Oudhof. All rights reserved. BSc thesis APPLIED MATHEMATICS \ Optimisation of Propellant Consumption for Power Limited Rockets What Role do Power Limite Rockets have in Future Spaceflight Missions?" (Dutch title: \Optimaliseren van brandstofverbruik voor vermogen gelimiteerde raketten De rol van deze raketten in toekomstige ruimtevlucht missies.)" NATHALIE OUDHOF Delft University of Technology Supervisor Dr. P.M. Visser Other members of the committee Dr.ir. W.G.M. Groenevelt Drs. E.M. van Elderen 21 December, 2017 Delft Abstract In this thesis we look at the most cost-effective trajectory for power limited rockets, i.e. the trajectory which costs the least amount of propellant. First some background information as well as the differences between thrust limited and power limited rockets will be discussed. Then the optimal trajectory for thrust limited rockets, the Hohmann Transfer Orbit, will be explained. Using Optimal Control Theory, the optimal trajectory for power limited rockets can be found. Three trajectories will be discussed: Low Earth Orbit to Geostationary Earth Orbit, Earth to Mars and Earth to Saturn. After this we compare the propellant use of the thrust limited rockets for these trajectories with the power limited rockets. -
Asteroid Retrieval Mission
Where you can put your asteroid Nathan Strange, Damon Landau, and ARRM team NASA/JPL-CalTech © 2014 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. Distant Retrograde Orbits Works for Earth, Moon, Mars, Phobos, Deimos etc… very stable orbits Other Lunar Storage Orbit Options • Lagrange Points – Earth-Moon L1/L2 • Unstable; this instability enables many interesting low-energy transfers but vehicles require active station keeping to stay in vicinity of L1/L2 – Earth-Moon L4/L5 • Some orbits in this region is may be stable, but are difficult for MPCV to reach • Lunar Weakly Captured Orbits – These are the transition from high lunar orbits to Lagrange point orbits – They are a new and less well understood class of orbits that could be long term stable and could be easier for the MPCV to reach than DROs – More study is needed to determine if these are good options • Intermittent Capture – Weakly captured Earth orbit, escapes and is then recaptured a year later • Earth Orbit with Lunar Gravity Assists – Many options with Earth-Moon gravity assist tours Backflip Orbits • A backflip orbit is two flybys half a rev apart • Could be done with the Moon, Earth or Mars. Backflip orbit • Lunar backflips are nice plane because they could be used to “catch and release” asteroids • Earth backflips are nice orbits in which to construct things out of asteroids before sending them on to places like Earth- Earth or Moon orbit plane Mars cyclers 4 Example Mars Cyclers Two-Synodic-Period Cycler Three-Synodic-Period Cycler Possibly Ballistic Chen, et al., “Powered Earth-Mars Cycler with Three Synodic-Period Repeat Time,” Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Sept.-Oct. -
An Assessment of Aerocapture and Applications to Future Missions
Post-Exit Atmospheric Flight Cruise Approach An Assessment of Aerocapture and Applications to Future Missions February 13, 2016 National Aeronautics and Space Administration An Assessment of Aerocapture Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California and Applications to Future Missions Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology for Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate NASA Work Performed under the Planetary Science Program Support Task ©2016. All rights reserved. D-97058 February 13, 2016 Authors Thomas R. Spilker, Independent Consultant Mark Hofstadter Chester S. Borden, JPL/Caltech Jessie M. Kawata Mark Adler, JPL/Caltech Damon Landau Michelle M. Munk, LaRC Daniel T. Lyons Richard W. Powell, LaRC Kim R. Reh Robert D. Braun, GIT Randii R. Wessen Patricia M. Beauchamp, JPL/Caltech NASA Ames Research Center James A. Cutts, JPL/Caltech Parul Agrawal Paul F. Wercinski, ARC Helen H. Hwang and the A-Team Paul F. Wercinski NASA Langley Research Center F. McNeil Cheatwood A-Team Study Participants Jeffrey A. Herath Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech Michelle M. Munk Mark Adler Richard W. Powell Nitin Arora Johnson Space Center Patricia M. Beauchamp Ronald R. Sostaric Chester S. Borden Independent Consultant James A. Cutts Thomas R. Spilker Gregory L. Davis Georgia Institute of Technology John O. Elliott Prof. Robert D. Braun – External Reviewer Jefferey L. Hall Engineering and Science Directorate JPL D-97058 Foreword Aerocapture has been proposed for several missions over the last couple of decades, and the technologies have matured over time. This study was initiated because the NASA Planetary Science Division (PSD) had not revisited Aerocapture technologies for about a decade and with the upcoming study to send a mission to Uranus/Neptune initiated by the PSD we needed to determine the status of the technologies and assess their readiness for such a mission. -
Up, Up, and Away by James J
www.astrosociety.org/uitc No. 34 - Spring 1996 © 1996, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112. Up, Up, and Away by James J. Secosky, Bloomfield Central School and George Musser, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Want to take a tour of space? Then just flip around the channels on cable TV. Weather Channel forecasts, CNN newscasts, ESPN sportscasts: They all depend on satellites in Earth orbit. Or call your friends on Mauritius, Madagascar, or Maui: A satellite will relay your voice. Worried about the ozone hole over Antarctica or mass graves in Bosnia? Orbital outposts are keeping watch. The challenge these days is finding something that doesn't involve satellites in one way or other. And satellites are just one perk of the Space Age. Farther afield, robotic space probes have examined all the planets except Pluto, leading to a revolution in the Earth sciences -- from studies of plate tectonics to models of global warming -- now that scientists can compare our world to its planetary siblings. Over 300 people from 26 countries have gone into space, including the 24 astronauts who went on or near the Moon. Who knows how many will go in the next hundred years? In short, space travel has become a part of our lives. But what goes on behind the scenes? It turns out that satellites and spaceships depend on some of the most basic concepts of physics. So space travel isn't just fun to think about; it is a firm grounding in many of the principles that govern our world and our universe. -
Future Space Launch Vehicles
Future Space Launch Vehicles S. Krishnan Professor of Aerospace Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennnai - 600 036, India (Written in 2001) Introduction Space technology plays a very substantial role in the economical growth and the national security needs of any country. Communications, remote sensing, weather forecasting, navigation, tracking and data relay, surveillance, reconnaissance, and early warning and missile defence are its dependent user-technologies. Undoubtedly, space technology has become the backbone of global information highway. In this technology, the two most important sub-technologies correspond to spacecraft and space launch vehicles. Spacecraft The term spacecraft is a general one. While the spacecraft that undertakes a deep space mission bears this general terminology, the one that orbits around a planet is also a spacecraft but called specifically a satellite more strictly an artificial satellite, moons around their planets being natural satellites. Cassini is an example for a spacecraft. This was developed under a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, is continuing its journey to Saturn (about 1274 million km away from Earth), where it is scheduled to begin in July 2004, a four- year exploration of Saturn, its rings, atmosphere, and moons (18 in number). Cassini executed two gravity-assist flybys (or swingbys) of Venus one in April 1998 and one in June 1999 then a flyby of Earth in August 1999, and a flyby of Jupiter (about 629 million km away) in December 2000, see Fig. 1. We may note here with interest that ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is thinking of a flyby mission of a spacecraft around Moon (about 0.38 million km away) by using its launch vehicle PSLV. -
A Study of Trajectories to the Neptune System Using Gravity Assists
Advances in Space Research 40 (2007) 125–133 www.elsevier.com/locate/asr A study of trajectories to the Neptune system using gravity assists C.R.H. Solo´rzano a, A.A. Sukhanov b, A.F.B.A. Prado a,* a National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Sa˜o Jose´ dos Campos, SP 12227-010, Brazil b Space Research Institute (IKI), Russian Academy of Sciences 84/32, Profsoyuznaya St., 117810 Moscow, Russia Received 6 September 2006; received in revised form 21 February 2007; accepted 21 February 2007 Abstract At the present time, the search for the knowledge of our Solar System continues effective. NASA’s Solar System Exploration theme listed a Neptune mission as one of its top priorities for the mid-term (2008–2013). From the technical point of view, gravity assist is a proven technique in interplanetary exploration, as exemplified by the missions Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini. Here, a mission to Neptune for the mid-term (2008–2020) is proposed, with the goal of studying several schemes for the mission. A direct transfer to Neptune is considered and also Venus, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn gravity assists are used for the transfer to Neptune, which represent new contributions for a possible real mission. We show several schemes, including or not the braking maneuver near Neptune, in order to find a good compromise between the DV and the time of flight to Neptune. After that, a study is made to take advantage of an asteroid flyby opportunity, when the spacecraft passes by the main asteroid belt. Results for a mission that makes an asteroid flyby with the asteroid 1931 TD3 is shown. -
Trajectory Design Tools for Libration and Cis-Lunar Environments
Trajectory Design Tools for Libration and Cis-Lunar Environments David C. Folta, Cassandra M. Webster, Natasha Bosanac, Andrew Cox, Davide Guzzetti, and Kathleen C. Howell National Aeronautics and Space Administration/ Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771 [email protected], [email protected] School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 {nbosanac,cox50,dguzzett,howell}@purdue.edu ABSTRACT science orbit. WFIRST trajectory design is based on an optimal direct-transfer trajectory to a specific Sun- Innovative trajectory design tools are required to Earth L2 quasi-halo orbit. support challenging multi-body regimes with complex dynamics, uncertain perturbations, and the integration Trajectory design in support of lunar and libration of propulsion influences. Two distinctive tools, point missions is becoming more challenging as more Adaptive Trajectory Design and the General Mission complex mission designs are envisioned. To meet Analysis Tool have been developed and certified to these greater challenges, trajectory design software provide the astrodynamics community with the ability must be developed or enhanced to incorporate to design multi-body trajectories. In this paper we improved understanding of the Sun-Earth/Moon discuss the multi-body design process and the dynamical solution space and to encompass new capabilities of both tools. Demonstrable applications to optimal methods. Thus the support community needs confirmed missions, the Lunar IceCube Cubesat lunar to improve the efficiency and expand the capabilities mission and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope of current trajectory design approaches. For example, (WFIRST) Sun-Earth L2 mission, are presented. invariant manifolds, derived from dynamical systems theory, have been applied to the trajectory design of 1. -
Study of a Crew Transfer Vehicle Using Aerocapture for Cycler Based Exploration of Mars by Larissa Balestrero Machado a Thesis S
Study of a Crew Transfer Vehicle Using Aerocapture for Cycler Based Exploration of Mars by Larissa Balestrero Machado A thesis submitted to the College of Engineering and Science of Florida Institute of Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering Melbourne, Florida May, 2019 © Copyright 2019 Larissa Balestrero Machado. All Rights Reserved The author grants permission to make single copies ____________________ We the undersigned committee hereby approve the attached thesis, “Study of a Crew Transfer Vehicle Using Aerocapture for Cycler Based Exploration of Mars,” by Larissa Balestrero Machado. _________________________________________________ Markus Wilde, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences _________________________________________________ Andrew Aldrin, PhD Associate Professor School of Arts and Communication _________________________________________________ Brian Kaplinger, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences _________________________________________________ Daniel Batcheldor Professor and Head Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences Abstract Title: Study of a Crew Transfer Vehicle Using Aerocapture for Cycler Based Exploration of Mars Author: Larissa Balestrero Machado Advisor: Markus Wilde, PhD This thesis presents the results of a conceptual design and aerocapture analysis for a Crew Transfer Vehicle (CTV) designed to carry humans between Earth or Mars and a spacecraft on an Earth-Mars cycler trajectory. The thesis outlines a parametric design model for the Crew Transfer Vehicle and presents concepts for the integration of aerocapture maneuvers within a sustainable cycler architecture. The parametric design study is focused on reducing propellant demand and thus the overall mass of the system and cost of the mission. This is accomplished by using a combination of propulsive and aerodynamic braking for insertion into a low Mars orbit and into a low Earth orbit. -
Spiral Trajectories in Global Optimisation of Interplanetary and Orbital Transfers Final Report
Spiral Trajectories in Global Optimisation of Interplanetary and Orbital Transfers Final Report Authors: M. Vasile, O. Schütze, O. Junge, G. Radice, M. Dellnitz Affiliation: University of Glasgow, Department of Aerospace Engineering, James Watt South Building, G12 8QQ, Glasgow,UK ESA Research Fellow/Technical Officer: Dario Izzo Contacts: Massimiliano Vasile Tel: ++44 141-330-6465 Fax: ++44-141-330-5560 e-mail: [email protected] Dario Izzo, Ph.D., MSc Tel: +31(0)71 565 3511 Fax: +31(0)71 565 8018 e-mail: [email protected] Ariadna ID: AO4919 05/4106 Study Duration: 4 months Available on the ACT website http://www.esa.int/act Contract Number: 19699/06/NL/HE Table of Contents 1 Introduction...................................... ..................... 2 1.1 StudyObjectives ................................... ................ 3 2 Trajectory Model and Problem Formulation . ................... 5 2.1 The Exponential Sinusoid ............................ ................ 6 2.2 Gravity Assist Model for the Exponential Sinusoid . ................ 7 2.3 Problem Formulation............................... ................. 7 3 ProblemAnalysis.................................... ................... 8 3.1 Search Space Structure................................ .............. 8 3.2 Upper limit on k2 ................................................... 8 3.3 Solution of Lambert’s problem with the Exponential Sinusoid ............... 12 3.4 Convergence Analysis ............................... ................ 13 4 Optimality Analysis ................................ -
Orbital Mechanics of Gravitational Slingshots 1 Introduction 2 Approach
Orbital Mechanics of Gravitational Slingshots Final Paper 15-424: Foundations of Cyber-Physical Systems Adam Moran, [email protected] John Mann, [email protected] May 1, 2016 Abstract A gravitational slingshot is a maneuver to save fuel by using the gravity of a planet to accelerate or decelerate a spacecraft. Due to the large distances and high speeds involved, slingshots require precise accuracy to accomplish | the slightest mistake could cause the whole mission to fail. Therefore, we have developed a cyber-physical system to model the physics and prove the safety and efficiency of powered and unpowered gravitational slingshots. We present our findings and proof in this paper. 1 Introduction A gravitational slingshot is a maneuver performed to increase or decrease the speed of a spacecraft by simply approaching planetary bodies. A spacecraft's usefulness and maneuverability is basically tied to the amount of fuel it can carry, and the more fuel a spacecraft holds, the more fuel it needs to carry that fuel into orbit. Therefore, gravitational slingshots are a very appealing way to save mass, and therefore money, on deep-space missions since these maneuvers do not require any fuel. As missions conducted by national and private space programs become more frequent and ambitious, the need for these precise maneuvers will increase. Therefore, we have created a cyber-physical system that models the physics of a gravitational slingshot for a spacecraft approaching a planet. In the "Approach" section of this paper, we give a brief overview of the physics involved with orbits and gravitational slingshots. In the "Models and Properties" section of this paper, we describe what assumptions and simplifications we made to model these astrophysics in a way for us to prove our desired properties with KeYmaeraX. -
Cassini End-Of-Life Escape Trajectories to the Outer Planets *
AAS 07-258 CASSINI END-OF-LIFE ESCAPE TRAJECTORIES TO THE * OUTER PLANETS Masataka Okutsu, † Chit Hong Yam, ‡ James M. Longuski,§ and Nathan J. Strange ** We investigate Saturn-escape trajectories via Titan gravity assist as an option for a contamination-free, end-of-life scenario for the Cassini spacecraft. The Saturn- escape energy can be large enough to reach anywhere from the asteroid belt to the Kuiper belt, including the orbital radii of all gas giants, from Jupiter (at 5 AU) to Neptune (at 30 AU). In one example, we present a transfer to Jupiter in which the Cassini spacecraft escapes Saturn in 2012 to impact Jupiter nine years later. INTRODUCTION With the Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) on July 1, 2004, Cassini-Huygens became the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn.1 The mission has made a series of exciting discoveries, including finding evidence that Saturn’s small satellite Enceladus may harbor water. 2 The Cassini-Huygens mission has a rich history involving mission design, 3,4 navigation, 5,6 and planetary science. 7,7–9 That history is beyond the scope of this paper; for a brief overview we refer the reader to Yam et al. 10 Today Cassini continues to explore the Saturnian system. NASA is currently considering a likely two-year extended mission beyond the four-year primary mission, which would take the spacecraft’s planned lifetime to at least July 2010. Although Cassini is currently a healthy spacecraft, how the mission may ultimately end is now an important consideration, and the design of the trajectory beyond the summer 2010 will be driven in part by end-of-mission scenarios.