Solar-sail trajectory design for a multiple near-earth-asteroid rendezvous mission

  • The scientific interest for near-Earth asteroids as well as the interest in potentially hazardous asteroids from the perspective of planetary defense led the space community to focus on near-Earth asteroid mission studies. A multiple near-Earth asteroid rendezvous mission with close-up observations of several objects can help to improve the characterization of these asteroids. This work explores the design of a solar-sail spacecraft for such a mission, focusing on the search of possible sequences of encounters and the trajectory optimization. This is done in two sequential steps: a sequence search by means of a simplified trajectory model and a set of heuristic rules based on astrodynamics, and a subsequent optimization phase. A shape-based approach for solar sailing has been developed and is used for the first phase. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a fully optimized multiple near-Earth asteroid rendezvous mission. The results show that it is possible to visit five near-Earth asteroids within 10 years with near-term solar-sail technology.

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Metadaten
Author:Alessandro Peloni, Matteo Ceriotti, Bernd DachwaldORCiD
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2514/1.G000470
ISSN:0731-5090
Parent Title (English):Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics
Publisher:AIAA
Place of publication:Reston, Va.
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2016
Volume:39
Issue:12
First Page:2712
Last Page:2724
Link:https://doi.org/10.2514/1.G000470
Zugriffsart:bezahl
Institutes:FH Aachen / Fachbereich Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik
FH Aachen / IfB - Institut für Bioengineering
collections:Verlag / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)