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"To assess the habitability of the icy environments in the solar system, for example, on Mars, Europa, and Enceladus, the scientific analysis of material embedded in or underneath their ice layers is very important. We consider self-steering robotic ice melting probes to be the best method to cleanly access these environments, that is, in compliance with planetary protection standards. The required technologies are currently developed and tested."
Innovative interplanetary deep space missions, like a main belt asteroid sample
return mission, require ever larger velocity increments (∆V s) and thus ever
more demanding propulsion capabilities. Providing much larger exhaust velocities than chemical high-thrust systems, electric low-thrust space-propulsion
systems can significantly enhance or even enable such high-energy missions. In
1995, a European-Russian Joint Study Group (JSG) presented a study report
on “Advanced Interplanetary Missions Using Nuclear-Electric Propulsion”
(NEP). One of the investigated reference missions was a sample return (SR)
from the main belt asteroid (19) Fortuna. The envisaged nuclear power plant,
Topaz-25, however, could not be realized and also the worldwide developments
in space reactor hardware stalled. In this paper, we investigate, whether such
a mission is also feasible using a solar electric propulsion (SEP) system and
compare our SEP results to corresponding NEP results.
Solar sailcraft provide a wide range of opportunities for high-energy low-cost missions. To date, most mission studies require a rather demanding performance that will not be realized by solar sailcraft of the first generation.
However, even with solar sailcraft of moderate performance, scientifically relevant missions are feasible. This is demonstrated with a Near Earth Asteroid sample return mission and various planetary rendezvous missions.
Solar sailcraft of the first generation technology development / Seboldt, Wolfgang ; Dachwald, Bernd
(2003)
Multiple Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous and Sample Return Using First Generation Solar Sailcraft
(2005)
Optimization of Interplanetary Rendezvous Trajectories for Solar Sailcraft Using a Neurocontroller
(2002)
Solar Sails for Near- and Medium-Term Scientific Deep Space Missions / W. Sebolt ; B. Dachwald
(2005)
Searching optimal continuous-thrust trajectories is usually a difficult and time-consuming task. The solution quality of traditional optimal-control methods depends strongly on an adequate initial guess because the solution is typically close to the initial guess, which may be far from the (unknown) global optimum. Evolutionary neurocontrol attacks continuous-thrust optimization problems from the perspective of artificial intelligence and machine learning, combining artificial neural networks and evolutionary algorithms. This chapter describes the method and shows some example results for single- and multi-phase continuous-thrust trajectory optimization problems to assess its performance. Evolutionary neurocontrol can explore the trajectory search space more exhaustively than a human expert can do with traditional optimal-control methods. Especially for difficult problems, it usually finds solutions that are closer to the global optimum. Another fundamental advantage is that continuous-thrust trajectories can be optimized without an initial guess and without expert supervision.