Transfer Options for Missions to Near Earth Objects.
- Paper number
IAC-05-C1.1.05
- Author
Mr. Paolo de Pascale, European Space Agency/ESOC, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Massimiliano Vasile, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Stefano Casotto, University of Padova, Italy
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The exploration of the solar system is currently widening its scope to new targets; beside the continuous interest in planetary missions, new targets are being considered in the current and future plans of the agencies. Near Earth Objects (NEO), which include both asteroids and comets, are in fact a very a high priority objective for science, but at the same time, and this mainly is the case of asteroids, they draw the attention of scientists for the potential hazard they can represent for our planet. It is therefore likely that future missions will be oriented either toward science objectives or hazard prevention or mitigation, or in same cases the two rationales will be present in the same mission. Various missions to NEO have been investigated and implemented so far, however differently from the case of the transfers to the planets, a wide range of possible alternative missions and transfer options still remain to be further analyzed. This paper intends to provide an extensive analysis and characterization of different transfer options to possible mission to Near Earth Objects. Starting from a classification of the most interesting targets, in terms of both science and possible risk for the Earth, different kind of missions will be considered with respect to the targets identified: single target missions for science purpose, single target mission for hazard mitigation (which can be used for tracking of dangerous objects or for deflection missions), multiple target missions (tour of a high number of NEOs) and sample and return options, both applied to single and multiple targets. A deep characterization of the range of best swing-by sequences will be presented. Trajectories to such targets in fact can typically require several gravity assist from the planets. Particular attention will be given to multiple target missions with the inclusion of sample and return options, since those missions would represent an interesting avenue for new scientific investigations. Interplanetary flights targeting a certain number of asteroids, useful to release transponders to track the motion of hazardous asteroids, could be achieved by a combination of multiple swing-by manoeuvres and low-thrust propulsion. In addition, if a recurrent swing-by of the Earth is included among the gravity assist manoeuvres, then sample and return missions could be considered. In the paper an analysis of both multiple target and sample return opportunities will be presented. The search for different transfers and best sequences options, with respect to the different type of mission, will be performed resorting to a preliminary design tool, based on a global search by an incremental branch and prune method combined with an evolutionary based technique. This methodology demonstrated to be an effective way of looking for optimal transfer options in case of complex multiple swing-by problems and particularly when the definition of the optimal swing by sequence is required. Low-thrust transfer will be investigated resorting to a methodology called inverse method, that has already proven to be effective in the preliminary assessment of solutions for low-thrust trajectories.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-C1.1.05.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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