Related papers: Reduction of Saturn Orbit Insertion Impulse using …
This study presents the trajectory design for a mission touring Saturn's Inner Large Moons (Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, and Mimas) engineered to meet observational requirements, including full surface coverage, while ensuring low fuel…
The minimum-fuel low-thrust transfer between circular orbits is formulated using the Edelbaum's averaged dynamics with the addition of the nodal precession due to the first zonal term. The extremal analysis shows that an optimal transfer is…
Past planetary missions have been broad and detailed for Gas Giants, compared to flyby missions for Ice Giants. Presently, a mission to Neptune using electrodynamic tethers is under consideration due to the ability of tethers to provide…
Gateway will represent a primary logistic infrastructure in cislunar space. The identification of efficient orbit transfers capable of connecting Earth, Moon, and Gateway paves the way for enabling refurbishment, servicing, and utilization…
This paper presents a simple approach to low-thrust optimal-fuel and optimal-time transfer problems between two elliptic orbits using the Cartesian coordinates system. In this case, an orbit is described by its specific angular momentum and…
For heavy-ion synchrotrons an efficient Multi-Turn Injection (MTI) from the injector linac is crucial in order to reach the specified currents using the available machine acceptance. The beam loss during the MTI must not exceed the limits…
Electric propulsion is used to maximize payload capacity in communication satellites. These orbit raising maneuvers span several months and hundreds of revolutions, making trajectory design a complex challenge. The literature typically…
Gravity-Assisted maneuvers have been used as a technique to reduce fuel consumption in deep space missions for several decades now. It opened the doors of the exterior solar system. The literature shows those results, as well as new…
Interstellar comets arrive with key ingredients for deep-space platforms already in place: volatile inventories convertible to propellant, natural rotation providing continuous attitude variation, and hyperbolic trajectories that carry them…
Knowledge of Saturn's axial moment of inertia can provide valuable information on its internal structure. We suggest that Saturn's angular momentum may be determined by the Solstice Mission (Cassini XXM) by measuring Saturn's pole…
The goal of the present paper is to make a numerical analysis of parametric optimization of low thrust orbital maneuver. An orbital maneuver occurs when it is necessary to modify the orbit a space vehicle to change its function or to…
Low-thrust electric propulsion missions are often designed under simplifying assumptions such as constant thrust or fixed specific impulse, neglecting the strong coupling between trajectory dynamics, spacecraft power availability, and…
This paper investigates the use of Reinforcement Learning for the robust design of low-thrust interplanetary trajectories in presence of severe disturbances, modeled alternatively as Gaussian additive process noise, observation noise,…
Optimization of low-thrust trajectories that involve a larger number of orbit revolutions is considered a challenging problem. This paper describes a high-precision symplectic method and optimization techniques to solve the minimum-energy…
A concept for forced reentry of small orbital debris with characteristic dimension ~ 10 cm from the highly populated sun synchronous orbit by injecting micron scale dust grains to artificially enhance drag is discussed. The drag enhancement…
The accurate determination of Saturn's gravitational coefficients by Cassini could provide tighter constrains on Saturn's internal structure. Also, occultation measurements provide important information on the planetary shape which is often…
Saturn is a dual-purpose accelerator. It can be operated as a large-area flash x-ray source for simulation testing or as a Z-pinch driver especially for K-line x-ray production. In the first mode, the accelerator is fitted with three…
Electrical space thrusters show important advantages for applications in outer space compared to chemical thrusters, as they allow a longer mission lifetime with lower weight and propellant consumption. Mature technologies on the market…
The fission thrust sail as booster for nuclear fusion-based rocket propulsion for future starships is studied. Some required aspects of these systems such as neutron moderation and sail regeneration are discussed. First order calculations…
Small-satellites and CubeSats offer a low-cost pathway to access Low Earth Orbit at altitudes of 450 km and lower thanks to miniaturization and advancement in reliability of commercial electronics. However, at these low altitudes,…