Aerobraking for space exploration

Abstract

Aerobraking may be used in place of rocket thrust to decelerate the spacecraft on arrival at Mars as well as on return to earth. Depending on the specifics of propulsion system design and mission objectives, aerobraking can provide very substantial savings in initial mass in LEO, in virtue of the fact that the mass of the aerobrake system is typically much less than that of the propellant required to conduct the equivalent maneuver. Attention is presently given to both chemically propelled and nuclear thermal propulsion vehicles employing aerobraking.