Robust future interplanetary mission planning [abstract]

Abstract only availableFaculty Mentor: Dr. Craig Kluever, Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringFuture mission planning requires years of planning in advance. Preliminary mission design must be evaluated years before the mission launches. A generic robust program was developed to solve Kepler's Problem via Gauss' Solution using universal variables. The program was developed to be general and allow for more celestial objects, other than the nine planets, to be added to the ephemeris. The file developed can analyze C3, launch ΔV, arrival ΔV, or total mission ΔV. The Gauss' Solution is generic enough analyze missions independent of the launch or arrival body. The program developed only evaluates type 1 and 2 orbits, however analysis could be continued to include type 3 or 4 orbits, or planetary fly-by gravity assists.Missouri Space Grant Consortiu

Isotope ratios of H, C, and O in CO2 and H2O of the Martian atmosphere

Stable isotope ratios of H, C, and O are powerful indicators of a wide variety of planetary geophysical processes, and for Mars they reveal the record of loss of its atmosphere and subsequent interactions with its surface such as carbonate formation. We report in situ measurements of the isotopic ratios of D/H and O-18/O-16 in water and C-13/C-12, O-18/O-16, O-17/O-16, and (CO)-C-13-O-18/(CO)-C-12-O-16 in carbon dioxide, made in the martian atmosphere at Gale Crater from the Curiosity rover using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)'s tunable laser spectrometer (TLS). Comparison between our measurements in the modern atmosphere and those of martian meteorites such as ALH 84001 implies that the martian reservoirs of CO2 and H2O were largely established similar to 4 billion years ago, but that atmospheric loss or surface interaction may be still ongoing