Early Mariner comet flyby
Abstract
An inexpensive first mission to a faint short period comet utilizing the spare Mariner Venus/Mercury spacecraft is studied with regard to science rationale and instrumentation and engineering feasibility and design. The spare Mariner spacecraft, suitably modified, is shown to be compatible with science requirements of a first comet flyby. Important aspects of this early mission would be penetration of the comet's gaseous coma and the approach of the nucleus to within hundreds of km in order to obtain in situ measurements and imaging that will help to establish comet science models and determine the hazards of a comet environment to future comet missions.
- Publication:
-
AIAA, 13th Aerospace Sciences Meeting
- Pub Date:
- January 1975
- Bibcode:
- 1975aiaa.meetS....N
- Keywords:
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- Comets;
- Flyby Missions;
- Mariner Spacecraft;
- Mission Planning;
- Payloads;
- Feasibility Analysis;
- Interplanetary Trajectories;
- Space Exploration;
- Spacecraft Configurations;
- Spacecraft Design;
- Spacecraft Instruments;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration