meetings - Space Flight Mechanics Committee

Feb 13, 2013
Puna Room C&D
SESSION 20: INTERPLANETARY MISSION STUDIES
Chair: Dr. Jon Sims, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
8:00 AAS Trajectory Design for MoonRise:Lunar South Pole – Aitken Basin Sample
13-380 Return
Jeff Parker, University of Colorado at Boulder
This paper presents the mission design for the proposed MoonRise New Frontiers mission:
a lunar far side lander and return vehicle, with an accompanying communication satellite.
The communication satellite enters lunar orbit immediately upon arrival at the Moon,
whereas the lander enters a staging orbit about the lunar Lagrange points. The lander
descends and touches down on the surface 17 days after the communication satellite enters
orbit. The lander remains on the surface for nearly two weeks before lifting off and
returning to Earth via a low-energy return.
8:20 AAS MESSENGER's Maneuvers to Reduce Orbital Period during the Extended
13-382 Mission: Ensuring Maximum Use of the Bi-Propellant Propulsion System
Sarah Flanigan, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Two orbit-correction maneuvers (OCMs) were required during MESSENGER’s extended
mission to reduce the orbital period from 11.6 to 8 hours. The OCMs were designed as a
pair to maximize use of the bi-propellant propulsion system. The first maneuver was
designed to be flexible to a range of oxidizer remaining in the system. A special autonomy
scheme was necessary to respond to oxidizer depletion and continue the maneuver without
interruption using only monopropellant thrusters. The second maneuver executed four days
later and was designed on the basis of the performance of the first maneuver.
8:40 AAS MESSENGER Navigation Operations During The Mercury Orbital Mission
13-383 Phase
Brian Page, KinetX Aerospace, Inc.; Christopher Bryan, KinetX Aerospace, Inc.;
Kenneth Williams, KinetX Aerospace, Inc.; Anthony Taylor, KinetX Aerospace, Inc.;
Dale Stanbridge, KinetX Aerospace, Inc.; Peter Wolff, KinetX Aerospace, Inc.;
Bobby Williams, KinetX SNAFD
The MESSENGER spacecraft was launched in August 2004 and began orbiting Mercury in
March 2011 for a nominal one-year scientific investigation. A mission extension was
initiated in March 2012. In order to optimize the scope and return of the onboard scientific
instruments and the stability of the spacecraft orbit about the planet, the orbital period was
reduced from 12 to 8 hours in April 2012. This paper describes MESSENGER’s Mercury
orbital navigation operations and trajectory estimation performance for the mission period
from Mercury orbit insertion through the nominal mission to the first 9 months of the
extended mission.
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23 rd AAS / AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting