1. Aerocapture as an Enhancing Option for Ice Giants Missions
- Author
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Soumyo Dutta, Gonçalo Afonso, Samuel W Albert, Hisham K Ali, Gary A Allen, Antonella I Alunni, James O Arnold, Alexander Austin, Gilles Bailet, Shyam Bhaskaran, Alan M Cassell, George T Chen, Ian J Cohen, James A Cutts, Rohan G Deshmukh, Robert A Dillman, Guillermo Dominguez Calabuig, Sarah N D'Souza, Donald T Ellerby, Giusy Falcone, Alberto Fedele, Jay Feldman, Roberto Gardi, Athul P Girija, Tiago Hormigo, Jeffrey P Hill, Shayna Hume, Christopher Jelloian, Vandana Jha, Breanna J Johnson, Craig A Kluever, Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Marcus A Lobbia, Ping Lu, Ye Lu, Rafael A Lugo, Daniel A Matz, Robert W Moses, Michelle M Munk, Adam P Nelessen, Miguel Perez-Ayucar, Richard W Powell, Zachary R Putnam, Jeremy R Rea, Sachin Alexander Reddy, Thomas Reimer, Sarag J Saikia, Isil Sakraker Özmen, Kunio Sayanagi, Stephan Schuster, Jennifer Scully, Ronald R Sostaric, Christophe Sotin, David A Spencer, Benjamin M Tackett, Nikolas Trawny, Ethiraj Venkatapathy, Paul F Wercinski, and Cindy L Young
- Subjects
Astrodynamics - Abstract
Investigation of Uranus and Neptune, via orbiter and atmospheric probes, is required to answer pressing science questions that have been raised in previous Decadal Surveys. As the Ice Giants are the farthest planets from Earth, traditional fully-propulsive orbit insertion missions would require a large amount of propellant, leaving less mass for the scientific payload; additionally, transit time to the planetary bodies near 13-15 years. Aerocapture uses aerodynamic forces generated by flight within a planetary atmosphere to decelerate and achieve orbit insertion. Although, aerocapture has not been used in the past, recent developments in thermal protection systems, guidance and control, and navigation capabilities enable the use of rigid, heritage entry vehicle configurations already flown at other planetary bodies for Ice Giants aerocapture. With the addition of these recent capabilities, aerocapture can robustly deliver spacecraft to Ice Giant orbits, while substantially increasing on-orbit payload mass (more than 40%) and reducing the transit time by 2-5 years (15-30%) relative to fully-propulsive orbit insertion.
- Published
- 2020