Extension of low-thrust propulsion to the autonomous coplanar circular restricted four body problem with application to future Trojan Asteroid missions

An Autonomous Coplanar Circular Restricted Four Body Problem (CRFBP) is considered, where the massless body is a low-thrust spacecraft. 'Natural' and 'artificial' (i.e. created with the use of continuous low-thrust propulsion) equilibrium solutions are identified, that have the potential to be exploited in future science missions. Results show that, with zero thrust, there are unstable equilibrium points close to the third primary. However, artificial equilibrium points, displaced from the natural ones, can be generated with the use of constant low-thrust. Furthermore, these points are proved to be stable in certain regions about the third primary mass. This is particularly advantageous since it means that it would be possible to continuously maintain a spacecraft about these strategic observation points, close to the smaller primary, without the need for state feedback control. The Sun-Jupiter-Trojan Asteroid-Spacecraft system is considered, as a particular case of the Autonomous Coplanar CRFBP. Curves of artificial equilibrium points are then identified. Furthermore, the stability analysis of these points reveals the region where they are stable. In this region four bounded orbits close to the Asteroid are proved to exist, that can be reached and maintained with a constant low-thrust lower than 10µN

Conference on Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Asteroid and Comet Interiors : January 8-10, 2015, Tempe, Arizona

The goal of AstroRecon is to identify and evaluate the best technologies for spacecraft robotic reconnaissance of comets, asteroids, and small moons--paving the way for advanced science missions, exploration, sample return, in situ resource utilization, hazard mitigation, and human visitation.Shell GameChanger, ASU NewSpace, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratoryinstitutional support Arizona State University, Lunar and Planetary Institute, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Universities Space Research Association Arizona State University's Students for the Exploration and Development of Space ; sponsors Shell GameChanger, ASU NewSpace, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory ; conveners Erik Asphaug Arizona State University, Tempe, Jekan Thangavelautham Arizona State University, Tempe ; program committee Erik Asphaug (Co-chair Science) Arizona State University, Tempe [and 6 others].PARTIAL CONTENTS: Human Exploration / P. A. Abell and A. S. Rivkin--Comet Radar Explorer / E. Asphaug--Development of Communication Technologies and Architectural Concepts for Interplanetary Small Satellite Communications / A. B. Babuscia and K. C. Cheung--Numerical Simulations of Spacecraft-Regolith Interactions on Asteroids / R.-L. Ballouz, D. C. Richardson, P. Michel, and S. R. Schwartz--Kuiper: A Discover, Class Observatory for Outer Solar System Giant Planets, Satellites, and Small Bodies / J. F. Bell, N. M. Schneider, M. E. Brown, J. T. Clarke, B. T. Greenhagen, R. M.C. Lopes, A. R. Hendrix, and M. H. Wong--Landing on Small Bodies: From the Rosetta Lander to MASCOT and Beyond / J. Biele, S. Ulamec, P.-W. Bousquet, P. Gaudon, K. Geurts, T.-M. Ho, C. Krause, R. Willnecker, and M. Deleuze--High-Resolution Bistatic Radar Imaging in Support of Asteroid and Comet Spacecraft Missions / M. W. Busch, L. A. M. Benner, M. A. Slade, L. Teitelbaum, M. Brozovic, M. C. Nolan, P. A. Taylor, F. Ghigo, and J. Ford--Asteroid Comet and Surface Gravimetric Surveying can Reveal Interior Structural Details / K. A. Carroll

On the Attitude Control by Thruster of a Spinning Solar Sail and Bending Moment's Effect Analysis

The membrane dynamics of spinning solar sails have a special relevance when considering attitude control of the spacecraft. Because of being non-rigid structures, local deformation occurs, changing the overall effect of the Solar Radiation Pressure, which might lead to attitude disturbances and unexpected behavior. Thus, an accurate model and study of such dynamics is needed. Until this point, several researches on the topic have been conducted (Nakano, T., et al., 2005 - Takao, Y., 2018), modeling the membrane as a completely flexible body. However, the deformation observed in IKAROS (a spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to demonstrate solar sail technology) during its low-spin operation suggested a higher rigidity of the sail than the predicted one (Shirasawa, Y.,et al., 2012). The difference between the observed and the predicted deformation of IKAROS is believed to be caused by the bending stiffness present in the membrane. First, this study shows that the bending moment has strong effects on the attitude of the sail during its spin axis reorientation. Given the difficulty of measuring the actual bending stiffness of the membrane, it is necesOutgoin

スピンレート制御によるスピン型ソーラーセイルの最適姿勢・軌道制御

学位の種別: 課程博士審査委員会委員 : (主査)東京大学教授 川口 淳一郎, 東京大学教授 堀 浩一, 東京大学教授 岩崎 晃, 東京大学准教授 船瀬 龍, 総合研究大学院大学准教授 吉川 真University of Tokyo(東京大学

Science opportunities with solar sailing smallsats

Recently, we witnessed how the synergy of small satellite technology and solar sailing propulsion enables new missions. Together, small satellites with lightweight instruments and solar sails offer affordable access to deep regions of the solar system, also making it possible to realize hard-to-reach trajectories that are not constrained to the ecliptic plane. Combining these two technologies can drastically reduce travel times within the solar system, while delivering robust science. With solar sailing propulsion capable of reaching the velocities of ~5-10 AU/yr, missions using a rideshare launch may reach the Jovian system in two years, Saturn in three. The same technologies could allow reaching solar polar orbits in less than two years. Fast, cost-effective, and maneuverable sailcraft that may travel outside the ecliptic plane open new opportunities for affordable solar system exploration, with great promise for heliophysics, planetary science, and astrophysics. Such missions could be modularized to reach different destinations with different sets of instruments. Benefiting from this progress, we present the "Sundiver" concept, offering novel possibilities for the science community. We discuss some of the key technologies, the current design of the Sundiver sailcraft vehicle and innovative instruments, along with unique science opportunities that these technologies enable, especially as this exploration paradigm evolves. We formulate policy recommendations to allow national space agencies, industry, and other stakeholders to establish a strong scientific, programmatic, and commercial focus, enrich and deepen the space enterprise and broaden its advocacy base by including the Sundiver paradigm as a part of broader space exploration efforts.Comment: 34 pages, 12 figures, 2 table

Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop : February 27–28 and March 1, 2017, Washington, DC

This workshop is meant to provide NASA’s Planetary Science Division with a very long-range vision of what planetary science may look like in the future.Organizer, Lunar and Planetary Institute ; Conveners, James Green, NASA Planetary Science Division, Doris Daou, NASA Planetary Science Division ; Science Organizing Committee, Stephen Mackwell, Universities Space Research Association [and 14 others]PARTIAL CONTENTS: Exploration Missions to the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud--Future Mercury Exploration: Unique Science Opportunities from Our Solar System’s Innermost Planet--A Vision for Ice Giant Exploration--BAOBAB (Big and Outrageously Bold Asteroid Belt) Project--Asteroid Studies: A 35-Year Forecast--Sampling the Solar System: The Next Level of Understanding--A Ground Truth-Based Approach to Future Solar System Origins Research--Isotope Geochemistry for Comparative Planetology of Exoplanets--The Moon as a Laboratory for Biological Contamination Research--“Be Careful What You Wish For:” The Scientific, Practical, and Cultural Implications of Discovering Life in Our Solar System--The Importance of Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) Analysis and Imaging to the Search for Life on the Ocean Worlds--Follow the (Outer Solar System) Water: Program Options to Explore Ocean Worlds--Analogies Among Current and Future Life Detection Missions and the Pharmaceutical/ Biomedical Industries--On Neuromorphic Architectures for Efficient, Robust, and Adaptable Autonomy in Life Detection and Other Deep Space Missions

3rd International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions : October 24–27, 2016, Pasadena, California

The purpose of this workshop is to provide a forum for collaboration, exchange of ideas and information, and discussions in the area of the instruments, subsystems, and other payload-related technologies needed to address planetary science questions. The agenda will compose a broad survey of the current state-of-the-art and emerging capabilities in instrumentation available for future planetary missions.Universities Space Research Association (USRA); Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI); Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)Conveners: Sabrina Feldman, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, David Beaty, Jet Propulsion Laboratory ; Science Organizing Committee: Carlton Allen, Johnson Space Center (retired) [and 12 others

Space Science

The all-encompassing term Space Science was coined to describe all of the various fields of research in science: Physics and astronomy, aerospace engineering and spacecraft technologies, advanced computing and radio communication systems, that are concerned with the study of the Universe, and generally means either excluding the Earth or outside of the Earth's atmosphere. This special volume on Space Science was built throughout a scientifically rigorous selection process of each contributed chapter. Its structure drives the reader into a fascinating journey starting from the surface of our planet to reach a boundary where something lurks at the edge of the observable, light-emitting Universe, presenting four Sections running over a timely review on space exploration and the role being played by newcomer nations, an overview on Earth's early evolution during its long ancient ice age, a reanalysis of some aspects of satellites and planetary dynamics, to end up with intriguing discussions on recent advances in physics of cosmic microwave background radiation and cosmology

IAU Symposium 160

Some of the topics considered include: Search Programs, Populations of Small Bodies, Dynamics, Physical Observations and Modeling, Observations from Space, Origin and Evolution, and Data Bases.Sponsored by International Astronomical Union.Organized by Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino and the Lunar and Planetary Institute.With the contribution of Regione Piemonte, Provincia di Novara, A.P.T. Lago Maggiore, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, European Space Agency, Alenia Spazio S.p.A.; with the participation of Banca Popolare di Novara, Camera di Commercio di Novara, Martini & Rossi IVLAS S.p.A.PARTIAL CONTENTS: SMACS: Small Missions to Asteroids and Comets. A Fast, Low Cost Approach to the Space Reconnaissance of Near-Earth Objects / M.J.S. Belton--Stochasticity of Comet P/GE-Wang / D. Benest and R. Gonczi--Chips Off of 4 Vesta: A Newly Confirmed Asteroid Family and Link to Basaltic Achondrite Meteorites / R.P. Binzel--Asteroid 243 IDA as a Member of the Koronis Family: Predictions and Implications for the Galileo Encounter / R.P. Binzel and S.M. Slivan--Photoelectric Observations of 4179 Toutatis / C. Blanco and D. Riccioli--Observations of OH in P/Swift-TuttIe and in Several Recent Weak Comets with the Nancay Radio Telescope / D. Bockehie-Morvan, G. Bourgois, P. Colom, J. Crovisier, E. Gerard, and L. Jorda--The Origin of the 3.2-3.6 Micron Emission Features in Comets: Gas or Dust / D. Bockelee-Morvan, T.Y. Brooke, and J. Crovisier--Observations of Sub-millimeter Lines of CH30H, HCN and H2CO in Comet P/Swift-Tuttle with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope / D. Bockelee-Morvan, R. Padman, J.K. Davies, and J. Crovisier--Astrometric Measurements of Minor Planets in 1991-1992 / G. Bocsa and M. Birlan--Concerted Elemental Analyses- PIXE and TOF-SIMS- of Interplanetary Dust Particles / J. Bohsung, E.K. Jessberger, and T. Stephan--Dynamical Effects of Asymmetric Nongravitational Forces on Long-Period Comets / A. Bolalto, G. Carballo, and J.A. Fenuindez--Images of Comet Swift-Tuttle 1992t in the Light of H20+ and CO+ Ions, and Dust / T. Bonev, K. Jockers, and G.P. Chernova--Two Components in Meteor Spectra / J. Borovicka

Trajectory design of multi-target missions via graph transcription and dynamic programming.

Missions that can visit multiple orbital targets represent the next cornerstone for space travels, be it for science, exploration or even exploitation. The trajectory design of such missions requires to solve a mixed-integer programming problem, on which the selection of a proper sequence of targets depends upon the quality of the trajectory that links them, where quality usually refers to propellant consumption or mission duration. Two aspects are important when addressing these problems. The first one is to identify optimal solutions with respect to critical mission parameters. Current approaches to solve these problems require computing time that rises with the number of control parameters, as the visiting objects sequence length, as well as rely on a-priori knowledge to define a manageable design space (i.e., departing dates, presence of deep space manoeuvres, etc.). Moreover, the more challenging multi-objective optimization needs to be tackled to ap- propriately inform the mission design with full extent of launch opportunities. The second aspect is that beyond the obvious complexity of such problems formulation, preliminary mission design requires not only to locate the global optimum solutions but, also, to map the ensemble of solutions that leads to feasible transfers. This thesis describes a pipeline to transcribe the mixed-integer space into a discrete graph made by grids of interconnected nodes for missions that visit multiple celestial objects, like planets, asteroids, comets, or a combination thereof, by means of one single space- craft. This allows to exploit optimal substructure of such problems, opening dynamic programming to be conveniently applied. Dynamic programming principles are thus ex- tended to multi-objective optimization of such trajectories and used to explore the tran- scribed graph, guaranteeing Pareto optimality with efficient computational effort. A mod- ified dynamic programming approach is also derived that allows to retain more and diverse solutions in the final set compared to known standard approaches, while guaranteeing global optimality on the transcribed space. Numerous applications are presented where such pipeline is successfully applied. Tra- jectories towards Jupiter and Saturn alongside novel transfers for comet sample return missions are discussed, as well as trajectories that visit multiple asteroids in the main belt. Such scenarios prove robustness and efficiency of proposed approaches in capturing optimal solutions and wide Pareto fronts on search spaces of complex configuration.PhD in Aerospac