Ocean Worlds, Icy Bodies, and RTG Concepts for Exploration
- Paper number
IAC-17,A7,1,7,x37132
- Author
Mr. David Woerner, Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology, United States
- Year
2017
- Abstract
A review of deep-space missions flown by the U.S. and other countries quickly reveals many of the “easy” missions have been conducted. While there are more of these important missions to fly, even more challenging mission concepts are suggested by the scientific results reaped from missions flown to date. One such type of mission is an “ice penetration mission,” which would propel a probe through a very thick ice sheet to a scientifically rich destination. Such destinations may be homes to extant life and rich in evidence of how the solar system formed. Penetrating ice sheets on remote bodies presents many challenges, and specialized radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) could enable such missions. To date, RTGs have been designed for “general purpose” use. Specialized RTGs based upon general-purpose RTGs are within reach. These RTGs could provide the heat needed to melt through an ice sheet and power a scientific payload of instruments and sensors. These potential missions require attention to the detailed design challenges of thermal, power, communications, high-pressure environments, collision avoidance, and propulsion management to arrive at a holistically designed and integrated spacecraft concept. Potential missions to bodies with ice sheets including the Ocean Worlds are introduced briefly, the RTG concepts that could enable exploration of such ice sheets are discussed, and RTG system integration concepts (with critical design metrics addressing the design challenges above) will be presented.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-17,A7,1,7,x37132.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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