MISSION PLAN - PDS Small Bodies Node

3.0 Launch Phase (L+0 to L+30 days)
3.1 Overview
The launch phase begins at the launch vehicle lift-off and ends with the completion of the
activation and checkout of most of the spacecraft subsystems. Included in this phase are
spacecraft separation from the launch vehicle, establishment of attitude and
communications, tracking of the spacecraft and the execution of the first trajectory
correction maneuver (TCM-1) to correct the injection error. The duration of this phase is
30 days.
The spacecraft trajectory for this phase is shown in Figure 3.1-1. This plot shows the
path of the spacecraft in an Earth-sun fixed coordinate system for the first day of the
baseline launch period. Subphases are defined in Table 3.1-1. A trajectory data set
containing the following parameters can be found in Section 9.2:
Earth-Probe Range
Sun-Earth-Probe Angle
Sun-Probe-Earth Angle
Moon-Probe Range
Sun-Moon-Probe Angle
Sun-Probe-Moon Angle
1400
50
S,T (1E3 km)
1200
1000
800
600
400
Earth Centered
RS plane = Earth Ecliptic
R = Radial direction (Sun to Earth)
S = Circumferential (Orthogonal to R
along Earth velocity vector)
T = Out-of Plane component
L to L+72 hrs
S
S (1E3 km)
40
30
20
10
0
-10
To
Sun
Earth
S
Time tics: 30 min,
Shadow
200
0
To
Sun
T
-20
-30
-40
-200
-1400 -1200 -1000 -800 -600 -400 -200 0 200
R (1E3 km)
-50
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50
R (1E3 km)
Figure 3.1-1 Launch Phase Spacecraft Trajectory
Table 3.1-1 Launch Phase Subphase Definition
Mission Phase Sub-Phases Time (L+days) Duration
(days)
45