Related papers: Odyssey: a Solar System Mission
The twin Pioneer spacecraft have been tracked for over thirty years as they headed out of the solar system. After passing 20 AU from the Sun, both exhibited a systematic error in their trajectories that can be interpreted as a constant…
The solar gravitational lens (SGL) provides a factor of $10^{11}$ amplification for viewing distant point sources beyond our solar system. As such, it may be used for resolved imaging of extended sources, such as exoplanets, not possible…
LETSGO (LEnse-Thirring Sun-Geo Orbiter) is a proposed space-based mission involving the use of a spacecraft moving along a highly eccentric heliocentric orbit perpendicular to the ecliptic. It aims to accurately measure some important…
Solar Orbiter is a joint ESA-NASA mission planed for launch in October 2018. The science payload includes remote-sensing and in-situ instrumentation designed with the primary goal of understanding how the Sun creates and controls the…
The Solar Orbiter mission, to be launched in July 2017, will carry a suite of remote sensing and in-situ instruments, including the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI). PHI will deliver high-cadence images of the Sun in intensity and…
The Gaia satellite, planned for launch by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2013, is the next generation astrometry mission following Hipparcos. Gaia's primary science goal is to determine the kinematics, chemical structure and evolution…
The study of stellar oscillations - asteroseismology - has revolutionized our understanding of the physical properties of the Sun, and similar potential for other stars has been demonstrated in recent years. In particular, asteroseismic…
We have studied the science rationale, goals and requirements for a mission aimed at using the gravitational lensing from the Sun as a way of achieving high angular resolution and high signal amplification. We find that such a mission…
Understanding the origin and long-term evolution of the Solar System is a fundamental goal of planetary science and astrophysics. This chapter describes our current understanding of the key processes that shaped our planetary system,…
Astrophysical measurements away from the 1 AU orbit of Earth can enable several astrophysical science cases that are challenging or impossible to perform from Earthbound platforms, including: building a detailed understanding of the…
Some tests of gravity theories - periastron shift, geodetic precession, change in mean motion and gravitational redshift - are applied in solar and stellar systems to constrain the cosmological constant. We thus consider a length scale…
This paper investigates an autonomous navigation method for spacecraft operating in the outer solar system, up to 250 AU from the Sun, using the parallactic shifts of nearby stars. These measurements enable estimation of the spacecraft…
Close planetary flybys are frequently employed as a technique to place spacecraft on extreme solar system trajectories that would otherwise require much larger booster vehicles or may not even be feasible when relying solely on chemical…
Batygin and Brown (2016) have suggested the existence of a new Solar System planet supposed to be responsible for the perturbation of eccentric orbits of small outer bodies. The main challenge is now to detect and characterize this putative…
Two new interplanetary technologies have advanced in the past decade to the point where they may enable exciting, affordable missions that reach further and faster deep into the outer regions of our solar system: (i) small and capable…
Recent advances in optical atomic clocks and optical time transfer have enabled new possibilities in precision metrology for both tests of fundamental physics and timing applications. Here we describe a space mission concept that would…
We consider how the trajectory of an interstellar precursor mission would be affected by the gravity of the Sun in Newtonian and Milgromian dynamics (MOND). The Solar gravity is ${\approx 50\%}$ stronger in MOND beyond a distance of…
The primary objective of the Beyond Einstein Advanced Coherent Optical Network (BEACON) mission is a search for new physics beyond general relativity by measuring the curvature of relativistic space-time around Earth. This curvature is…
The outer solar system provides a unique, quiet vantage point from which to observe the universe around us, where measurements could enable several niche astrophysical science cases that are too difficult to perform near Earth. NASA's New…
An effective method for detailed observation of the Solar System planets is the use of vehicles that can perform flight in their atmospheres, with the most promising of them being Flyers (aircraft for other planets atmospheres). Besides the…