The Huygens Probe Mission to Titan:   Engineering the Operational Success

Sollazzo, C.; Lebreton, Jean‐Pierre; Clausen, K.; Blancquaert, Thierry; Witasse, Olivier; Schipper, Anne-Marie; Wheadon, Joe; Pérez-Ayúcar, Miguel; Couzin, P.; Salt, David J.; Hermes, Martin; Johnsson, Martin

doi:10.2514/6.2006-5503

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The shaded areas (in gray) are regions of the rings through which the spacecraft is not allowed to pass [i.e., the constraint on the node distance given by Eq. (27)]. Impact trajectories with a vacant node distance of one Saturnian radius (for i rel 30 and 60 deg) are indicated with asterisks.…”

Section: Option 1: Saturn Impact Via Short-period Orbitmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After seven years of interplanetary cruise [25], the Cassini orbiter was inserted into orbit about Saturn in July 2004 [1], whereas the Huygens probe was delivered to the surface of Titan in January 2005 [26,27]. Goodson et al [28], Standley [29], and Wagner et al [30] describe the engineering operations and maneuver experience during the mission.…”

Section: Background Of the Cassini-huygens Missionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Saturn Impact Trajectories for Cassini End-of-Mission

Yam

Davis

Longuski

et al. 2009

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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Potential end-of-mission scenarios to be considered for the Cassini spacecraft must satisfy planetary quarantine requirements designed to prevent contamination of a pristine environment, which could include Titan and the other Saturnian moons. One assumed acceptable option for safe disposal of the spacecraft includes Saturn impact trajectories. Two classes of impact trajectories are investigated: short-period orbits characterized by periods of 6-10 days and long-period orbits with periods greater than 850 days. To impact Saturn with short-period orbits, a series of successive Titan flybys is required to increase inclination and decrease periapsis to within Saturn's atmosphere, while simultaneously avoiding the rings and mitigating V expenditures. To ensure that the spacecraft is not prematurely damaged by material in the rings, Tisserand graphs are employed to determine when the ring-plane crossing distance is within the F-G ring gap: the necessary geometry for the penultimate transfer. For long-period impact trajectories, solar gravity is exploited to significantly lower periapsis. Depending on the size and orientation of the long-period orbit, a maneuver (<50 m=s) at apoapsis must be added to ensure impact. For sufficiently large orbits with favorable characteristics, solar gravity alone drops the spacecraft's periapsis into Saturn's atmosphere. No maneuver is necessary after the final Titan flyby, providing an attractive "flyby-and-forget" option. Nomenclature a = semimajor axis, km or R S e = eccentricity h = specific angular momentum, km 2 =s h p = flyby altitude, km i rel = inclination relative to the gravity-assist body's orbit, deg J 2 = Saturn's oblateness coefficient m = number of gravity-assist body orbits about the central body n = number of spacecraft orbits about the central body p = semilatus rectum, km or R S R S = Saturn's radius, km (R S 60; 268 km) R T = Titan's radius, km (R T 2575 km) r = position vector from the central body, km or R S r = radial distance from center of Saturn to spacecraft, km or R S r a = radius of apoapsis from central body, km or R S r enc = radial distance of encounter from central body, km or R S r p = radius of periapsis from central body, km or R S r vac = radial distance of vacant node from central body, km or R S T = orbital period, day V = velocity vector relative to the central body, km=s V 1 = hyperbolic excess velocity vector, km=s v = velocity magnitude relative to the central body, km=s v 1 = hyperbolic excess velocity magnitude, km=s = pump angle, deg = flight-path angle, deg V = change in velocity magnitude, km=s = flyby bending angle, deg = flyby B-plane angle, deg = crank angle, deg = gravitational parameter, km 3 =s 2 = orientation of the spacecraft orbit relative to the sunSaturn line, deg Subscripts ga = quantity for the gravity-assist body sc = quantity for the spacecraft

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Section: Option 1: Saturn Impact Via Short-period Orbitmentioning

confidence: 99%