A Novel Mission Concept for Near Term Exploration of the Interstellar Medium (ISM)
- Paper number
IAC-15,D4,4,3,x31058
- Author
Dr. NITIN ARORA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Leon Alkalai, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Nathan Strange, Caltech/JPL, United States
- Year
2015
- Abstract
Two recent Keck Institute of Space Studies (KISS) workshops on the topic of exploration of the interstellar medium (ISM) have made it clear that science from a robotic mission to the ISM spans across multiple scientific disciplines and would be compelling to the Heliophysics, the Astrophysics and the Planetary science community. Motivated by this goal, we present a mission concept capable of reaching the ISM ($\sim$200 AU) in $\sim$20 years. Flyby of a large Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) as the spacecraft escapes the solar system is also considered. The mission affords a launch date in February 2027 and takes advantage of NASA’s new SLS Block-1b launch vehicle. The spacecraft is launched on a $\Delta{V}$-EGA-Jupiter-Sun trajectory with an Earth escape v-infinity of $\sim$6.85 km/sec and achieves a low solar perihelion of 2.8 solar radii. Taking advantage of the Oberth effect, a large $\Delta{V}$ ($\sim$5.5 km/sec) maneuver at the solar perihelion is performed, allowing the ISM probe to escape the solar system at a hyperbolic excess speed of $\sim$63 km/sec, almost 4 times that of Voyager 1. The flight system consists of a delivery stage and a $\sim$550 kg ISM probe. The delivery stage is responsible for injecting the ISM probe in a scientifically preferred direction and consists of a bi-prop element for performing deep space maneuver and trajectory corrections, a thermal protection system for surviving close to the Sun and a solid rocket motor for achieving the required perihelion $\Delta{V}$. The baseline ISM probe is designed to be a dual eMMRTG powered, spin stabilized spacecraft with a 1-meter high gain antenna. The spacecraft hardware is selected to be dual cold case redundant with long operational life times (20+ years). The total science payload as identified during the two KISS workshops is found to be $\sim$40 kg (with contingency). The proposed mission concept is shown to be possible within a New Frontiers-class cost cap ($\sim$1B\$) and has the capacity to usher in a new era of space exploration in which the ISM is being explored as a science destination, much like Outer planets are explored today.- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)