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Launch Opportunities and Preliminary Orbit Design for Next Mars Exploration Program Trans. JSASS Aerospace Tech. Japan Vol. 10, No. ists28, pp. Tk_19-Tk_25, 2012 Topics Launch Opportunities and Preliminary Orbit Design for Next Mars Exploration Program By Naoko Ogawa1), Michihiro Matsumoto2), Nobuaki Ishii2), Yuichi Tsuda1,2), Yasuhiro Kawakatsu1,2), Jun’ichiro Kawaguchi1,2), Takeshi Imamura2), Ayako Matsuoka2), Takashi Kubota1,2) and Takehiko Satoh1,2) 1)JAXA Space Exploration Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan 2)Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan (Received June 27th, 2011) Since 2008, a new plan for next Mars exploration program has been proposed and discussed by scientists and engineers in Japan. This exploration program is named MELOS, or Mars Exploration with Lander and Orbiter Synergy, a long-awaited program in the planetary science community in Japan after unsuccessful end of Nozomi Mars orbiter and ongoing challenge of Akatsuki Venus orbiter. The goal of the whole program is to understand Mars as a system, by elucidation of Martian climate, atmospheric escape, internal structure, surface environment and interaction by them. A series of missions has been planned, and several spacecraft including orbiters and landers are under discussion to be launched in early 2020’s. In this paper, we investigate launch opportunities during early 2020’s and estimate the payload mass in each case. Feasible interplanetary transfer trajectories from Earth to Mars are proposed. Preliminary design of insertion sequence into the Mars orbit and some orbit candidates derived from mission requirements are also shown together with numerical simulation results. Key Words: Mars, Mission Analysis, Orbit Design, MELOS 1. Introduction improved by Akatsuki at Venus2) and by MELOS1 at Mars. In this proposal, a meteorology orbiter will be inserted into the Since 2008, scientists and engineers in Japan have discussed Mars orbit. Another is to study escaping atmosphere that is the next Mars exploration program named MELOS, an acronym thought to be a key process for today’s tenuous atmosphere for “Mars Exploration with Lander-Orbiter Synergy”1). As its of Mars. Researchers propose “2-orbiter” configuration for name indicates, this is a programmatic series of several ambi- escaping atmosphere so that in-situ measurements and global tious missions composed of landers and orbiters. Combined views will be acquired simultaneously. We describe possible and networked exploration by multiple spacecraft is one of no- orbit sequences for the meteorology orbiter configuration and table features of the MELOS series. A working group for the 2-orbiter configuration in Sections 4. and 5., respectively. MELOS has been established in 2008, and more than 100 re- searchers have joined discussing the details of the first mission 3. Launch Opportunities toward the launch in early 2020’s. This paper describes the preliminary mission analysis and Table 1 shows launch opportunities to Mars from 2019 and orbit design for the MELOS mission series. Possible mission 2024. In one case, for example, the spacecraft will depart Earth plans to realize required configuration by a single launch and in July 2020 and arrive to Mars in February 2021, after about simple simulation results are reported. a half rotation around Sun. Vinf means the hyperbolic excess speed from the outgoing hyperbola from Earth or the incoming 2. Overview hyperbola to Mars, which corresponds to the velocity difference between the planet and transfer orbit. It is noteworthy that In this section, overview and scientific basis of the MELOS launch opportunities around early 2020’s require substantially series are introduced. high velocity to escape from Earth and to approach Mars. It The first mission called MELOS1 is planned to be launched means that the total mass which can be delivered to the Mars around early 2020’s, which will be an “orbiter primary” mission orbit is not so large. Some transfer orbits require more than one with one or more orbiters and a small lander as a precursor rotations around Sun. The table also includes the approximate to demonstrate entry, descent and landing (EDL). A larger estimation of the maximum dry mass that can be delivered by MELOS2 mission with a well-equipped lander will follow and an H-IIA 202 or 204 vehicle into the Mars transfer orbit (MTO) enhance our understanding about Mars. or into the Mars orbit, where the final orbit is assumed to be There are two proposals for the orbiter part of MELOS1. One 300 km 10 R and R is the Mars radius. Note that the dry × M M is to complement the comparative meteorology of terrestrial mass includes lander’s propellant for descent. Among the H- planets. Our knowledge of Earth meteorology will be greatly IIA series, 202 is the basic type with two solid rocket boosters 1 Copyright© 2012 by the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences and ISTS. All rights reserved. Tk_19 Trans. JSASS Aerospace Tech. Japan Vol. 10, No. ists28 (2012) Table 1. Launch opportunities to Mars during early 2020’s. Launch Arrival Departure Vinf Arrival Vinf Dry mass in MTO [ton] Dry mass in Mars orbit [ton] [km/s] [km/s] H-IIA 202 H-IIA 204 H-IIA 202 H-IIA 204 Nov. 2019 Feb. 2022 3.00 2.70 2.0 3.3 1.4 2.4 Jul. 2020 Feb. 2021 3.70 2.62 1.7 2.9 1.2 2.1 Nov. 2021 Jan. 2024 3.01 2.98 2.0 3.3 1.3 2.2 Sep. 2022 Aug. 2023 3.83 2.64 1.6 2.8 1.1 2.0 Dec. 2023 Jan. 2026 3.12 3.31 2.0 3.1 1.3 2.0 Oct. 2024 Aug. 2025 3.36 2.45 1.9 3.1 1.4 2.3 (SRB), while 204 has an enhanced launch capability by adding and declination of the outgoing asymptote are 12.5 degrees and two more SRBs. 26.2 degrees, respectively. A small burn of TCM-1 (Trajectory Correction Maneuver 1) is performed 15 days after the launch. 4. Preliminary Orbit Design for Meteorology Orbiter After the six-month cruise, TCM-2 is planned 15 days before arriving Mars. The spacecraft approaches Mars with a B- Preliminary orbital elements for the meteorology orbiter are parameter of 7,751 km and a phase angle of 63.32 degrees. shown in Table 2. The orbit is elliptic in order to observe the Finally on 16th February 2021, the OME (Orbit Maneuver whole Mars globe from its apoapsis. In this paper we set its Engine) of the spacecraft burns with an 898-m/s delta-V at a inclination to be 63.4 degrees so that the argument of periapsis 300-km altitude of Mars to inject itself into the orbit as shown be kept constant, but this value is tentative. in Fig. 3. Table 2. Preliminary orbital elements of the meteorology orbiter. 16 Feb.. 2021 Elements Values Periapsis altitude [km] 300 Apoapsis altitude [km] 30,564 (9 RM) Inclination [deg] 63.4 (TBD) 4.1. Transfer to Mars In this paper, we assume the launch year to be 2020. A possible mission sequence from the launch to Mars orbit insertion (MOI) can be designed as follows. Simulation was performed by using an aerospace mission analysis software STK 9 and its trajectory design module Astrogator (Analytical Graphics, Inc.). Note that the sequence is not optimized. Table 3 shows the overall sequence. 25 Jul. 2020 Table 3. A possible mission sequence for the meteorology orbiter. Dates Events Notes 25 Jul. 2020 Launch from Tane- 40.8-min coast Fig. 1. Mars transfer orbit for the meteorology orbiter. 21:41:40 UTC gashima 25 Jul. 2020 Insertion into Mars 3.81 km/s 22:29:16 UTC Transfer Orbit 4.2. Mars orbit Figure 4 and 5 show transition of orbital elements for the 9 Aug. 2020 TCM-1 (optional) 62.4 m/s meteorology orbiter after MOI, computed by STK/Astrogator 22:29:16 UTC considering Mars gravity field coefficients up to 80th degrees 1 Feb. 2021 TCM-2 (optional) 1.1 m/s in Goddard Mars Model 2B3), the spherical solar radiation 06:26:11 UTC pressure model4), and a simple exponential Mars air drag model, 16 Feb. 2021 MOI at 300 km peri- 898 m/s where we set the solar radiation pressure coefficient C to be 04:20:46 UTC apsis r 1, the atmospheric drag coefficient Cd to be 2.2, the spacecraft mass to be 500 kg, its area to be 20 m2, the reference air density A heliocentric view of the Mars transfer orbit for the to be 2 107 kg/km3 and the scale altitude to be 11.1 km, as meteorology orbiter is shown in Fig. 1. On 25th July 2020, the × preliminary values. It is indicated that the orbit is stable and spacecraft will be launched from Tanegashima Space Center, deviation of orbital elements is sufficiently small for at least one Japan. After 41-minute coasting at the 300-km altitude, the martian year. craft is injected into the outgoing transfer orbit toward Mars by a 3.81-km/s delta-V, as shown in Fig. 2. Right ascension 2 Tk_20 N. OGAWA et al.: Launch Opportunities and Preliminary Orbit Design for Next Mars Exploration Program 63.90 63.85 63.45 Escaping Orbit 63.80 63.75 63.70 63.40 Launch 63.65 Feb 15 Mar 1 Mar 15 Apr 1 63.60 63.55 Coasting 63.50 63.45 63.40 Apr Jul Oct Jan 2022 Apr Jul Oct Jan 2023 2021 (UTCG) Inclination (deg) Kick Burn Fig. 5. Transition of the inclination of the meteorology orbiter. 4.3. Option: insertion into areostationary orbit (ASO) There are many suitable orbits for effective observation of the Martian climate.
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