Mission Design and Integrated Guidance and Navigation Strategy for NEO Flyby Using ‘Interceptor’

Paper number

IAC-05-B5.2.04

Author

Dr. Osamu Mori, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Coauthor

Mr. Kohta Tarao, University of Tokyo, Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Yasuhiro Kawakatsu, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/ISAS, Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Junichiro Kawaguchi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/ISAS, Japan

Year

2005

Abstract

More than 300 thousands asteroids and comets are in the solar system. They are conceived to have preserved primordial state well. The origin and developing process of the solar system can be known by investigating the typical one of them intensively. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was launched the spacecraft ‘HAYABUSA’. It will arrive at asteroid ‘ITOKAWA’ at the end of August in 2005, and it will collect samples and return them to earth. On the other hand, only taking pictures of many small bodies are also very significant. We are investigating flyby missions which aim at Near Earth Objects using very small probes ‘interceptor’. This paper presents detailed mission analysis of interceptor and proposes a new integrated method of autonomous optical guidance and navigation.
  An interceptor observes spectrum, takes close images, and determines mass of a NEO during a flyby. These measurements make clear the geographical and geological features of a target. The weight of interceptor is less than 10 kg. Three types of missions are proposed. First type is only one interceptor is launched as piggyback mission. The second type is several interceptors are launched and each one aims at each target. The third type is a few interceptors are mounted to a spacecraft as submissions. In any type of mission, the structure of each interceptor is the same. There are a lot of chances of carrying out missions. A list of the target candidates is shown. 
  In order to accomplish the high speed flyby, an active orbit control guiding a spacecraft passing though the specified point in the B-plane around an object is required. At the same time, it requests an autonomous navigation capability using optical cameras. In this paper, an integrated guidance and navigation strategy during high speed flyby is described. In general, it is impossible to determine the relative orbit during a flyby only with optical information due to the scaling effect in ballistic flight. First, this paper discusses the new integrated guidance and navigation strategy, provided the relative velocity vector between the probe and the object is obtained by the radio navigation. Next, the paper presents how the full orbit parameters are reconstructed even based only on the optical measurements. The velocity corrections aiming at the guidance help the navigation fully performed by also helping the observability enhanced.

Abstract document

IAC-05-B5.2.04.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-05-B5.2.04.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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