Science-Driven Design of ENCELADUS Flyby Geometry

Paper number

IAC-06-C1.6.05

Author

Mr. Brent Buffington, Jet Propulsion Laboratory / CalTech, United States

Coauthor

Mr. Nathan Strange, Jet Propulsion Laboratory / CalTech, United States

Year

2006

Abstract

As a result of exciting new discoveries made by the Cassini spacecraft, Enceladus has emerged as one of the primary targets for exploration in the Solar System.  Numerous Enceladus flybys have revealed an active cryovolcanic south polar region that includes a plume extending over 250 km from Enceladus’ surface.  With these finding, Enceladus has joined the elite company of Europa and Mars as the only extraterrestrial bodies in the Solar System thought to contain near-surface liquid water.

For the Cassini mission, several new trajectory design techniques have been developed to optimize Enceladus flybys for particular instruments in order to better address specific Science questions.  This paper will describe the different classes of flyby geometries and develop analytic expressions to solve for the optimal geometry associated with both in-situ and remote sensing instruments.  These techniques are currently being implemented to modify and improve Enceladus science return during the Cassini prime mission, and will be used to optimize Enceladus flyby geometry in the Cassini extended mission.  These techniques are also very relevant to the design of future missions to Enceladus.
 
Note: May also be relavent to sessions A3.2 (Solar System Exploration) and/or C1.8 (Mission and Constellation Design).

Abstract document

IAC-06-C1.6.05.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-06-C1.6.05.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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