Solar sail trajectory design for a multiple near-Earth asteroid rendezvous mission

Peloni, A. , Ceriotti, M. and Dachwald, B. (2016) Solar sail trajectory design for a multiple near-Earth asteroid rendezvous mission. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 39(12), pp. 2712-2724. (doi: 10.2514/1.G000470)

Abstract

The scientific interest for near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) as well as the interest in potentially hazardous asteroids from the perspective of planetary defense led the space community to focus on NEA mission studies. A multiple NEA rendezvous mission with close-up observations of several objects can help to improve the characterization of these asteroids. This work explores the design of a solar-sail spacecraft for such a mission, focusing on the search of possible sequences of encounters and the trajectory optimization. This is done in two sequential steps: a sequence search by means of a simplified trajectory model and a set of heuristic rules based on astrodynamics, and a subsequent optimization phase. A shape-based approach for solar sailing has been developed and used for the first phase. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a fully-optimized multiple NEA rendezvous mission. The results show that it is possible to visit 5 NEAs within 10 years with near-term solar-sail technology.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ceriotti, Dr Matteo and Peloni, Mr Alessandro
• Authors: Peloni, A., Ceriotti, M., and Dachwald, B.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics
• Publisher: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• ISSN: 0731-5090
• ISSN (Online): 1533-3884
• Published Online: 07 September 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 Alessandro Peloni, Matteo Ceriotti, and Bernd Dachwald
• First Published: First published in Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics 39(12): 2712-2724
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy
• Data DOI: 10.5525/gla.researchdata.326