Constructing a Low Energy Transfer Between Jovian Moons

There has recently been considerable interest in sending a spacecraft to orbit Europa, the smallest of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. The trajectory design involved in effecting a capture by Europa presents formidable challenges to traditional conic analysis since the regimes of motion involved depend heavily on three-body dynamics. New three-body perspectives are required to design successful and efficient missions which take full advantage of the natural dynamics. Not only does a three-body approach provide low-fuel trajectories, but it also increases the flexibility and versatility of missions. We apply this approach to design a new mission concept wherein a spacecraft "leap-frogs" between moons, orbiting each for a desired duration in a temporary capture orbit. We call this concept the "Petit Grand Tour." For this application, we apply dynamical systems techniques developed in a previous paper to design a Europa capture orbit. We show how it is possible, using a gravitional boost from Ganymede, to go from a jovicentric orbit beyond the orbit of Ganymede to a ballistic capture orbit around Europa. The main new technical result is the employment of dynamical channels in the phase space - tubes in the energy surface which naturally link the vicinity of Ganymede to the vicinity of Europa. The transfer V necessary to jump from one moon to another is less than half that required by a standard Hohmann transfer

A conceptual design of a large aperture microwave radiometer geostationary platform

A conceptual design of a Large Aperture Microwave Radiometer (LAMR) Platform has been developed and technology areas essential to the design and on-orbit viability of the platform have been defined. Those technologies that must be developed to the requirement stated here for the LAMR mission to be viable include: advanced radiation resistant solar cells, integrated complex structures, large segmented reflector panels, sub 3 kg/m(exp 2) areal density large antennas, and electric propulsion systems. Technology areas that require further development to enhance the capabilities of the LAMR platform (but are not essential for viability) include: electrical power storage, on-orbit assembly, and on-orbit systems checkout and correction