Vehicle/trajectory optimization for aerocapture at Mars
Abstract
This paper considers joint optimization of trajectory and configuration in determining a minimum-mass vehicle for aeroassisted capture of a payload to a specific orbit at Mars. Aerocapture by a vehicle with a blunt aeroshell is assumed, supplemented by either chemical or nuclear thermal rocket impulses within the planet's sphere of influence. Optimal combinations of aeroshell size and exoatmospheric impulses are calculated for a range of entry velocities and constraints on integrated convective heating.
- Publication:
-
Journal of the Astronautical Sciences
- Pub Date:
- January 1994
- Bibcode:
- 1994JAnSc..42...71W
- Keywords:
-
- Aeroassist;
- Aerocapture;
- Interplanetary Spacecraft;
- Spacecraft Design;
- Spacecraft Trajectories;
- Trajectory Optimization;
- Convective Heat Transfer;
- Mars (Planet);
- Spacecraft Structures;
- Astronautics (General)