The flight and impact dispersion of the Comet Nucleus Penetrator - A six-degree-of-freedom simulation
Abstract
The flight dynamics of a Penetrator probe which, as part of a Comet Rendezvous and Asteroid Flyby mission will impact a known periodic comet, possibly Hempel 2, and penetrate beneath the surface to obtain measurements, is discussed. The mission is described, including the penetrator-separation dynamics, the dynamics during initial coast and rocket thrust phase, and the final coast to impact. The effects on the results that may be caused by the comet nucleus gravity field variations, uncertainty in the spacecraft state vector, the spacecraft pointing accuracy, initial separation errors, and rocket motor thrust errors are examined.
- Publication:
-
Astrodynamics 1985
- Pub Date:
- August 1986
- Bibcode:
- 1986asdy.conf..351M
- Keywords:
-
- Comet Nuclei;
- Computerized Simulation;
- Degrees Of Freedom;
- Penetration;
- Rendezvous Spacecraft;
- Asteroid Missions;
- Flight Mechanics;
- Impact;
- Astrodynamics