Optimizing launch window opportunities for ESA's comet Interceptor mission using primer vector theory

Rebelo, M.; Sánchez, J.P.

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.03.006

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In this context, ESA's Comet Interceptor [10] is a mission to a long-period comet designed to answer these fundamental questions. In particular, the Comet Interceptor was proposed to the European Space Agency in 2018 [11], adopted in 2022, and is currently under development [12], with the launch scheduled for 2029 [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar Sail Optimal Performance in Heliocentric Nodal Flyby Missions

Mengali,

Bassetto,

Quarta

2024

Aerospace

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Solar sails are propellantless propulsion systems that extract momentum from solar radiation pressure. They consist of a large ultrathin membrane, typically aluminized, that reflects incident photons from the Sun to generate thrust for space navigation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the optimal performance of a solar sail-based spacecraft in performing two-dimensional heliocentric transfers to inertial points on the ecliptic that lie within an assigned annular region centered in the Sun. Similar to ESA’s Comet Interceptor mission, this type of transfer concept could prove useful for intercepting a potential celestial body, such as a long-period comet, that is passing close to Earth’s orbit. Specifically, it is assumed that the solar sail transfer occurs entirely in the ecliptic plane and, in analogy with recent studies, the flyby points explored are between 0.85au and 1.35au from the Sun. The heliocentric dynamics of the solar sail is described using the classical two-body model, assuming the spacecraft starts from Earth orbit (assumed circular), and an ideal force model to express the sail thrust vector. Finally, no constraint is imposed on the arrival velocity at flyby. Numerical simulation results show that solar sails are an attractive option to realize these specific heliocentric transfers.

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