Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
May 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agusmin43a..01s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #IN43A-01
Statistics
Computation
5400 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets, 5700 Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets, 6255 Neptune, 6275 Saturn, 6281 Titan
Scientific paper
Aerocapture is a means of inserting a spacecraft into orbit at a planetary body with a substantial atmosphere, from a hyperbolic approach, via atmospheric drag in that atmosphere. Compared to current-practice propulsive insertion systems, it offers large reductions in the mass spent on orbit insertion, making available significantly more mass for science instruments and direct instrument support systems such as telecommunications. This yields much greater science return for a given launch mass. In some cases the gain in science return is so significant it enables the missions. The aerocapture maneuver itself, which involves hypersonic, guided flight through an imperfectly known and variable planetary atmosphere, critically depends on autonomous systems to guide the craft's flight path to a controlled exit at a pre-determined, much-reduced target speed and target direction. For the past five years NASA funded its Aerocapture Systems Analysis Team to conduct high-fidelity studies of aerocapture applications to destinations of high priority for planetary and solar system science. These studies aimed at deriving various aerocapture system parameters and performance figures for each destination, and to highlight technology developments needed to provide the requisite system parameters and performance. Significant progress has been made, to the point that aerocapture is fully ready for a flight demonstration, and soon after that implementation at some of the less-demanding destinations. Autonomous control algorithms of sufficient accuracy and speed are now available for a flight test, as is the hardware needed for computation, navigation, control, and thermal protection. Candidate destinations for which relatively low-performance systems are sufficient include Saturn's moon Titan, Venus, and Mars, while trips to more demanding destinations, such as Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and possibly even and Pluto and Neptune's moon Triton, would require higher-performance systems needing additional technology development.
Hall Jeffery L.
Spilker Thomas Richard
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