NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
Chasing a Comet with a Solar SailSolar sail propulsion systems enable a wide range of missions that require constant thrust or high delta-V over long mission times. One particularly challenging mission type is a comet rendezvous mission. This paper presents optimal low-thrust trajectory designs for a range of sailcraft performance metrics and mission transit times that enables a comet rendezvous mission. These optimal trajectory results provide a trade space which can be parameterized in terms of mission duration and sailcraft performance parameters such that a design space for a small satellite comet chaser mission is identified. These results show that a feasible space exists for a small satellite to perform a comet chaser mission in a reasonable mission time.
Document ID
20080013551
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Stough, Robert W. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Heaton, Andrew F. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Whorton, Mark S. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 27, 2008
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Meeting Information
Meeting: AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Conference
Location: Galveston, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: January 27, 2008
End Date: January 31, 2008
Sponsors: American Astronautical Society, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available