Accessibility of Main-Belt Asteroids and Low-Thrust Sample Return Trajectory Design
- Paper number
IAC-11,A3,4,12,x10799
- Author
Mr. ZHAO Guoqiang, Xi'an Satellite Control Center, China
- Coauthor
Dr. Yang Chen, Tsinghua University, China
- Coauthor
Dr. Hexi Baoyin, Tsinghua University, China
- Coauthor
Dr. Junfeng Li, China
- Year
2011
- Abstract
The main-belt asteroids are of great interest for science because the asteroids hold the key clues to understanding the origin of the solar system. This work investigates the accessibility of all the main-belt asteroids that are over 100 kilometers in diameter and low-thrust sample return trajectory design. With the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) applied, each asteroid’s minimum total delta-v for a two-impulse transfer is calculated to determine the potential candidate asteroids. The planetary gravity assists are considered to reduce the fuel consumption or the total delta-v. Based on the impulsive evaluation results, the low-thrust trajectory design problem for the main-belt asteroid sample return mission is formulated as fuel-optimal control problem with inner constraints (intermediate gravity assists). Pontryagin’s maximum principle indicates that the fuel-optimal control is a bang-bang control. The homotopic approach is used to solve the discontinuous control problem. In the case of launching in 2025, two possible missions are presented: 20-Massalia direct sample return mission and 111-Ate sample return mission via Earth and Mars gravity assists. Moreover, on top of the sample return mission, the spacecraft may be able to fly by some additional asteroids. The multiple asteroid exploration missions aiming for more scientific and engineering returns are discussed at the end of this paper.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)