相关论文: Rocket Lab Mission to Venus
The electric solar wind sail is a novel propellantless space propulsion concept. According to numerical estimates, the electric solar wind sail can produce a large total impulse per propulsion system mass. Here we consider using a 0.5 N…
In this work, we analyzed the orbits of more than 35,000 (for 2024) near-Earth objects (NEOs) for the possibility of successive approaches to all pairs of planets: Earth, Venus, and Mars in the time range from 2020 to 2120. We have selected…
Why are the terrestrial planets so different? Venus should be the most Earth-like of all our planetary neighbours. Its size, bulk composition and distance from the Sun are very similar to those of the Earth. Its original atmosphere was…
This paper reports a design study for a space-based decametric wavelength telescope. While not a new concept, this design study focused on many of the operational aspects that would be required for an actual mission. This design optimized…
Space launches produce ionospheric disturbances which can be observed through measurements such as Global Navigation Satellite System signal delays. Here we report observations and numerical simulations of the ionospheric depletion due to a…
The general profile and overarching goal of this proposed mission is to pioneer potentially highly beneficial (even vital) and cost-effective techniques for the future human colonization of Mars. Adopting radically new and disruptive…
Mid-Air Deployment (MAD) of a rotorcraft during Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) on Mars eliminates the need to carry a propulsion or airbag landing system. This reduces the total mass inside the aeroshell by more than 100 kg and simplifies…
Five Venus missions are under development to study the planet in the next decade, with both NASA's VERITAS and ESA's EnVision featuring a geophysical investigation among their objectives. Their radar and gravity experiments will determine…
Despite the impressive progresses achieved both by X-ray and gamma-ray observatories in the last decades, the energy range between $\sim 200\,\mathrm{keV}$ and $\sim 50\,\mathrm{MeV}$ remains poorly explored. COMPTEL, on-board CGRO…
Exoplanetary science has reached a historic moment. The James Webb Space Telescope will be capable of probing the atmospheres of rocky planets, and perhaps even search for biologically produced gases. However this is contingent on…
The Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-Gateway, or simply Gateway) is a crewed platform that will be assembled and operated in the vicinity of the Moon by NASA and international partner organizations, including ESA, starting from the…
The Mini-EUSO instrument is a UV telescope to be placed inside the International Space Station (ISS), looking down on the Earth from a nadir-facing window in the Russian Zvezda module. Mini-EUSO will map the earth in the UV range (300 - 400…
LOFT, the large observatory for X-ray timing, is a new mission concept competing with other four candidates for a launch opportunity in 2022-2024. LOFT will be performing high-time resolution X-ray observations of compact objects, combining…
There are a handful of spectral windows in the near-IR through which we can see down to Venus' surface on the night side of the planet. The surface of our sister planet has thus been imaged by sensors on Venus-orbiting platforms (Venus…
We outline a flagship-class mission concept focused on studying Titan as a global system, with particular emphasis on the polar regions. Investigating Titan from the unique standpoint of a polar orbit would enable comprehensive global maps…
The return of Comet 1P/Halley will promote a wide interest for ground and space observations of a celestial body of outstanding scientific and cultural interest. In addition to remote observations, space will open the possibility of in situ…
It is demonstrated that the development of a nuclear fusion rocket engine based on a D $-$ $^{3}$He (Deterium-Helium 3) technology will allow to travel in the solar system and beyond. The Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) is the D $-$…
The Large UV/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) mission is one of four Decadal Survey Mission Concepts studied by NASA in preparation for the US National Academies' Astro2020 Decadal Survey. This observatory has the major goal of…
Dawn is the first NASA mission to operate in the vicinity of the two most massive asteroids in the main belt, Ceres and Vesta. This double-rendezvous mission is enabled by the use of low-thrust solar electric propulsion. Dawn will arrive at…
Proposed close-encounter solar probes (Vulcan and Solar Probe) are planned to have highly eccentric orbits, with a perihelion of about $4R_S$ and an inclination close to $90^\circ$ out of the plane of the ecliptic. We show this could allow…