Considerations Regarding a Swarm Based Sample Return Mission to Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann

Vance, Leonard; Thangavelautham, Jekan

doi:10.1109/aero55745.2023.10115972

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Thanks to its (relative) accessibility if compared with the Kuiper belt objects, comet SW1 has been proposed as a potential target for a robotic exploration mission [8]. In particular, the aim of the proposed missions was both to obtain in situ physical measurements of such a primordial celestial body [9,10] and to collect the particles ejected by the comet during its frequent outbursts [11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar Sail Transfer Trajectory Design for Comet 29P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 1 Rendezvous

Quarta,

Abu Salem,

Palaia

2023

Applied Sciences

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The goal of this paper is to analyze the optimal transfer towards the periodic comet 29P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 1 of a solar sail-based spacecraft. This periodic and active comet is an interesting and still unexplored small body that has been regarded as an object of the Centaurs group. In this work, a classical (heliocentric) orbit-to-orbit transfer is studied from an optimal viewpoint, by finding the spacecraft trajectories that minimize the flight time for a given value of the solar sail characteristic acceleration, that is, the typical performance parameter of a photonic sail. In particular, the optimal Earth–comet transfer is studied both in a typical three-dimensional mission scenario and with a simplified two-dimensional approach, whose aim is to rapidly obtain an accurate estimation of the minimum flight time with a reduced computation cost. The numerical simulations illustrate the mission performance, in terms of the characteristics of the rapid transfer trajectory, as a function of the typical propulsive parameter and the solar sail thrust model.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%