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At least 433 records · Page 24
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Short-period comets

The spacecraft flybys of Comet Halley in 1986 confirmed Whipple's icy conglomerate hypothesis for cometary nuclei and showed that comets are far richer in volatiles than any other class of solar system bodies. Water is the most abundant volatile, comprising roughly 80 percent of the gas flowing out from the nucleus. Carbon monoxide is next with a content of 15 percent relative to water, though with approximately half of that coming from an extended source in the cometary coma, i.e., hydrocarbon dust grains. The detection of large numbers of hydrocarbon CHON grains was one of the more significant discoveries of the Halley flybys, as was the ground-based observation that CN occurs in jets, again indicating an extended source. Evidence was also found for more complex hydrocarbons. Estimates of the total dust-to-gas ratio for Halley range as high as 2:1, indicating that a substantial fraction of the volatile material may be tied up in solid hydrocarbons rather than ices. The role of clathrates in trapping more volatile ices is not yet understood. If Halley can be taken to be representative of all short-period comets, then the short-period comets may provide a significant source of volatiles in near-earth space. This resource is more difficult to reach dynamically than the near-earth asteriods, but the high volatile content may justify the additional effort necessary. In addition, there is considerable evidence that at least some fraction of the near-earth asteriods are extinct cometary nuclei which have evolved into asteroid orbits, and which may contain significant volatiles buried beneath an insulating lag-deposit crust of nonvolatiles. Knowledge of comets will be greatly enhanced in the near future by the Comet Rendezvous Flyby mission now under development by NASA, and by the proposed Rosetta mission.

Weissman, Paul R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The control network of Mercury: April 1991

Features identified on Mariner 10 high resolution images of Mercury, acquired during three flybys between 1974 and 1975, form the basis of Mercury's planetwide control network. Although images from all three flybys are used in the net, the large amount of contiguous coverage from the second flyby, a southern bright-side pass, make these images the strongest contributors to the control net. Mercury is in synchronous rotation with a period of 58.6462 days and its spin axis is approximately normal to the equatorial plane. The 20 degree meridian is defined by the crater Hun Kal, located just south of the equator. The control network computations involve the photogrammetric determination of control point coordinates and an analytical triangulation solution. The current control network computations for Mercury are performed in the J2000 coordinate system according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) convention. In recent years, updates to the control network have included improved trajectory solutions and modification of the standard radii (2439) at several points based on Earth-based radar altimetry data. The current status of the control network calculations is presented. Improvements were made to existing control points and new control points were added to the net to strengthen the overall network and improve the standard error of measurement.

Davies, Merton E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

CRAF/Cassini (C/C)

The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) is a mission to rendezvous with the comet Tempel 2 and to station-keep at the comet for a period of 2.6 years, including the comet perihelion. There is a flyby of the asteroid Mandeville prior to the arrival at Tempel 2. The Cassini is a mission to place a spacecraft in a highly elliptical orbit around the planet Saturn and deliver a probe to the surface of its satellite Titan. There is a flyby of the asteroid 1989 UR1 prior to arrival at Saturn. Coverage goals for the two missions are explained. Information is given in tabular form for frequency assignments, telemetry, command, navigation, and tracking support responsibility.

Draper, R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Ulysses dust measurements near Jupiter

Submicrometer- to micrometer-sized particles were recorded by the Ulysses dust detector within 40 days of the Jupiter flyby. Nine impacts were recorded within 50 Jupiter radii with most of them recorded after closest approach. Three of these impacts are consistent with particles on prograde orbits around Jupiter and the rest are believed to have resulted from gravitationally focused interplanetary dust. From the ratio of the impact rate before the Jupiter flyby to the impact rate after the Jupiter flyby it is concluded that interplanetary dust particles at the distance of Jupiter move on mostly retrograde orbits. On 10 March 1992, Ulysses passed through an intense dust stream. The dust detector recorded 126 impacts within 26 hours. The stream particles were moving on highly inclined and apparently hyperbolic orbits with perihelion distances of greater than 5 astronomical units. Interplanetary dust is lost rather quickly from the solar system through collisions and other mechanisms and must be almost continuously replenished to maintain observed abundances. Dust flux measurements, therefore, give evidence of the recent rates of production from sources such as comets, asteroids, and moons, as well as the possible presence of interstellar grains.

Gruen, Eberhard↗
NASA NTRS1994

Gravitational coefficients and internal structures of the icy Galilean satellites: An assessment of the Galileo Orbiter mission

Simulated radio tracking data from one flyby of Europa, two flybys of Ganymede, and two flybys of Callisto by the Galileo Orbiter yield estimates of the standard errors in the gravitational coefficient J(sub 2) of 44, 8.5, and 12 (in units of 10(exp -6)) for Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, respectively; errors in C(sub 22) (in units of 10(exp -6)) are 12, 1.7, and 2.1. These errors are sufficiently small that the values of J(sub 2) and C(sub 22) to be measured by Galileo should suffice to determine if the ice and rock in the satellite interiors are uniformly mixed or separated, so long as the bodies are in hydrostatic equilibrium.

Schubert, G.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Galileo Earth/Moon News Conference

This NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) video release (Part 1 of 2) begins with a presentation given by William J. O'Neil (Galileo Project Manager) describing the status and position of the Galileo spacecraft 7 days prior to the Galileo Earth-2 flyby. Slides are presented including diagrams of the Galileo spacecraft trajectory, trajectory correction maneuvers, and the Venus and asteroid flybys. Torrence Johnson (Galileo Project Scientist) follows Mr. O'Neil with an explanation of the Earth/Moon science activities that will be undertaken during the second Galileo/Earth encounter. These activities include remote sensing, magnetospheric and plasma measurements, and images taken directly from Galileo of the Earth and Moon. Dr. Joseph Veverka (Galileo Imaging Team, Cornell University) then gives a brief presentation of the data collected by the first Galileo/Gaspra asteroid flyby. Images sampled from the 57 photographs taken of Gaspra are presented along with discussions of Gaspra's morphology, shape and size, and surface features. These presentations are followed by a question and answer period given for the benefit of scientific journalists whose subjects include overall Galileo spacecraft health, verification of the Gaspra images timeframe, and the condition of certain scientific spacecraft instruments. Part 2 of this video can be retrieved by using Report No. NONP-NASA-VT-2000001078.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1995

Determination of Eros Physical Parameters for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Orbit Phase Navigation

Navigation of the orbit phase of the Near Earth steroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission will re,quire determination of certain physical parameters describing the size, shape, gravity field, attitude and inertial properties of Eros. Prior to launch, little was known about Eros except for its orbit which could be determined with high precision from ground based telescope observations. Radar bounce and light curve data provided a rough estimate of Eros shape and a fairly good estimate of the pole, prime meridian and spin rate. However, the determination of the NEAR spacecraft orbit requires a high precision model of Eros's physical parameters and the ground based data provides only marginal a priori information. Eros is the principal source of perturbations of the spacecraft's trajectory and the principal source of data for determining the orbit. The initial orbit determination strategy is therefore concerned with developing a precise model of Eros. The original plan for Eros orbital operations was to execute a series of rendezvous burns beginning on December 20,1998 and insert into a close Eros orbit in January 1999. As a result of an unplanned termination of the rendezvous burn on December 20, 1998, the NEAR spacecraft continued on its high velocity approach trajectory and passed within 3900 km of Eros on December 23, 1998. The planned rendezvous burn was delayed until January 3, 1999 which resulted in the spacecraft being placed on a trajectory that slowly returns to Eros with a subsequent delay of close Eros orbital operations until February 2001. The flyby of Eros provided a brief glimpse and allowed for a crude estimate of the pole, prime meridian and mass of Eros. More importantly for navigation, orbit determination software was executed in the landmark tracking mode to determine the spacecraft orbit and a preliminary shape and landmark data base has been obtained. The flyby also provided an opportunity to test orbit determination operational procedures that will be used in February of 2001. The initial attitude and spin rate of Eros, as well as estimates of reference landmark locations, are obtained from images of the asteroid. These initial estimates are used as a priori values for a more precise refinement of these parameters by the orbit determination software which combines optical measurements with Doppler tracking data to obtain solutions for the required parameters. As the spacecraft is maneuvered; closer to the asteroid, estimates of spacecraft state, asteroid attitude, solar pressure, landmark locations and Eros physical parameters including mass, moments of inertia and gravity harmonics are determined with increasing precision. The determination of the elements of the inertia tensor of the asteroid is critical to spacecraft orbit determination and prediction of the asteroid attitude. The moments of inertia about the principal axes are also of scientific interest since they provide some insight into the internal mass distribution. Determination of the principal axes moments of inertia will depend on observing free precession in the asteroid's attitude dynamics. Gravity harmonics are in themselves of interest to science. When compared with the asteroid shape, some insight may be obtained into Eros' internal structure. The location of the center of mass derived from the first degree harmonic coefficients give a direct indication of overall mass distribution. The second degree harmonic coefficients relate to the radial distribution of mass. Higher degree harmonics may be compared with surface features to gain additional insight into mass distribution. In this paper, estimates of Eros physical parameters obtained from the December 23,1998 flyby will be presented. This new knowledge will be applied to simplification of Eros orbital operations in February of 2001. The resulting revision to the orbit determination strategy will also be discussed.

Miller, J. K.↗
NASA NTRS2001

The Plasma Wave Environment of Europa

The Galileo spacecraft has executed nine close flybys of Jupiter's moon Europa for which plasma wave observations were obtained. This paper presents an analysis of the observations from these flybys taking into consideration the variable geometry of the trajectories in an attempt to characterize the general plasma-wave environment associated with the interaction of the Jovian magnetosphere with the moon. A wide variety of plasma-wave phenomena are found to be associated with this interaction. While there are apparently temporal variations which complicate the analysis, a crude model of the distribution of these phenomena around Europa is derived. Primarily on the upstream side of Europa, and working inward to the moon, electron-cyclotron harmonics are first observed, followed by a region within about two Europa radii of the moon with whistler-mode hiss or chorus, and culminating in a region closest to the moon where a band at the upper hybrid resonance frequency is sometimes enhanced over its ambient intensity. The wake region is approximately two Europa radii across and comprises a broadband, highly variable, and bursty electrostatic phenomenon. Upon closer inspection, these bursty emissions appear as solitary structures similar to those in Earth's auroral zone and plasma sheet boundary layer. In addition to the survey of wave phenomena in the vicinity of Europa, we provide density profiles derived primarily from the upper hybrid resonance frequency which is readily apparent throughout most of each of the flybys. Finally, we suggest that the whistler mode, electron cyclotron harmonic, and upper hybrid resonance emissions are driven by some combination of factors including variations in the magnetic field near Europa and the loss and production of plasma at Europa as a result of the interaction of the Jovian magnetosphere with the moon. By analogy with studies of the ion and electron holes and broadband electrostatic noise at Earth and Jupiter, we argue that the electrostatic solitary structures in the wake are associated with currents and beams coupling Europa to Jupiter's ionosphere.

Kurth, W. S.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Proof-of-Concept Trajectory Designs for a Multi-Spacecraft, Low-Thrust Heliocentric Solar Weather Buoy Mission

A new solar weather mission has been proposed, involving a dozen or more small spacecraft spaced at regular, constant intervals in a mutual heliocentric circular orbit between the orbits of Earth and Venus. These solar weather buoys (SWBs) would carry instrumentation to detect and measure the material in solar flares, solar energetic particle events, and coronal mass ejections as they flowed past the buoys, serving both as science probes and as a radiation early warning system for the Earth and interplanetary travelers to Mars. The baseline concept involves placing a mothercraft carrying the SWBs into a staging orbit at the Sun-Earth L1 libration point. The mothercraft departs the L1 orbit at the proper time to execute a trailing-edge lunar flyby near New Moon, injecting it into a heliocentric orbit with its perihelion interior to Earth s orbit. An alternative approach would involve the use of a Double Lunar Swingby (DLS) orbit, rather than the L1 orbit, for staging prior to this flyby. After injection into heliocentric orbit, the mothercraft releases the SWBs-all equipped with low-thrust pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs)-whereupon each SWB executes a multi-day low-thrust finite bum around perihelion, lowering aphelion such that each achieves an elliptical phasing orbit of different orbital period from its companions. The resulting differences in angular rates of motion cause the spacecraft to separate. While the lead SWB achieves the mission orbit following an insertion burn at its second perihelion passage, the remaining SWBs must complete several revolutions in their respective phasing orbits to establish them in the mission orbit with the desired longitudinal spacing. The complete configuration for a 14 SWB scenario using a single mothercraft is achieved in about 8 years, and the spacing remains stable for at least a further 6 years. Flight operations can be simplified, and mission risk reduced, by employing two mothercraft instead of one. In this scenario: the second mothercraft stays in a libration-point or DLS staging orbit until the first mothercraft has achieved nearly 180 separation from the Earth. The timing of the second mothercraft's subsequent lunar flyby is planned such that this spacecraft will be located 180 from the first mothercraft upon completion of its heliocentric circularization maneuvers. Both groups of satellites then only have to spread out over 180 to obtain full 360 coverage around the Sun.

Muller, Ronald↗
NASA NTRS1995

Comparison of Wave Energy Transport at the Comets p/Halley and p/Giacobini-Zinner

Using magnetic field, plasma density and flow observations from spacecraft flybys of two comets, Eler variables are determined in order to study wave propogation directions. We investigate the inbound path of the Giotto spacecraft flyby of comet p/Halley outside the bow shock, and the inbound and outbound path of the ICE spacecraft flyby of comet p/Giacobini-Zinner outsinde of the bow wave.

magnetic field plasma density Giotto Halley Giacob↗
NASA NTRS1994

Navigation for Rendezvous and Orbit Missions to Small Solar-System Bodies

All previous spacecraft encounters with small solar-system bodies, such as asteroids and comets, have been flybys (e.g. Galileo's flybys of the asteroids Gaspra and Ida). Several future projects plan to build on the flyby experience and progress to the next level with rendezvous and orbit missions to small bodies. This presents several new issues and challenges for navigation which have never been considered before. This paper addresses these challenges by characterizing the different phases of a small body rendezvous and by describing the navigation requirements and goals of each phase. Prior to the encounter with the small body, improvements to its ephemeris and initial estimates of its physical parameters, e.g. size, shape, mass, rotation rate, rotation pole, and possibly outgassing, are made as accurately as ground-based measurements allow. This characterization can take place over years...

Helfrich, C. E.↗
NASA NTRS2006

The role of invariant manifolds in lowthrust trajectory design (part III)

This paper is the third in a series to explore the role of invariant manifolds in the design of low thrust trajectories. In previous papers, we analyzed an impulsive thrust resonant gravity assist flyby trajectory to capture into Europa orbit using the invariant manifolds of unstable resonant periodic orbits and libration orbits. The energy savings provided by the gravity assist may be interpreted dynamically as the result of a finite number of intersecting invariant manifolds. In this paper we demonstrate that the same dynamics is at work for low thrust trajectories with resonant flybys and low energy capture. However, in this case, the flybys and capture are effected by continuous families of intersecting invariant manifolds.

low thrust trajectories↗
NASA NTRS2006

Lessons Learned from Daily Uplink Operations during the Deep Impact Mission

The daily preparation of uplink products (commands and files) for Deep Impact was as problematic as the final encounter images were spectacular. The operations team was faced with many challenges during the six-month mission to comet Tempel One of the biggest difficulties was that the Deep Impact Flyby and Impactor vehicles necessitated a high volume of uplink products while also utilizing a new uplink file transfer capability. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Multi-Mission Ground Systems and Services (MGSS) Mission Planning and Sequence Team (MPST) had the responsibility of preparing the uplink products for use on the two spacecraft. These responsibilities included processing nearly 15,000 flight products, modeling the states of the spacecraft during all activities for subsystem review, and ensuring that the proper commands and files were uplinked to the spacecraft. To guarantee this transpired and the health and safety of the two spacecraft were not jeopardized several new ground scripts and procedures were developed while the Deep Impact Flyby and Impactor spacecraft were en route to their encounter with Tempel-1. These scripts underwent several adaptations throughout the entire mission up until three days before the separation of the Flyby and Impactor vehicles. The problems presented by Deep Impact's daily operations and the development of scripts and procedures to ease those challenges resulted in several valuable lessons learned. These lessons are now being integrated into the design of current and future MGSS missions at JPL.

uplink↗
NASA NTRS2008

Assessment of Alternative Europa Mission Architectures

The purpose of this study was to assess the science merit, technical risk and qualitative assessment of relative cost of alternative architectural implementations as applied to a first dedicated mission to Europa. The objective was accomplished through an examination of mission concepts resulting from previous and ongoing studies. Key architectural elements that were considered include moon orbiters, flybys (single flybys like New Horizons and multiple flybys similar to the ongoing Jupiter System Observer study), sample return and in situ landers and penetrators.

Juptier Icy Moon Orbiter (JIMO)↗
NASA NTRS2008

Comparisons of Selected Atmospheric Escape Mechanisms on Venus, Mars and Titan

The similarities and differences of the escape mechanisms for H+ and D+ from Venus, H+ and D+ from Mars, and heavier ions (approximately 17 and approximately 28 amu) from Titan are described. The dominant escape process for hydrogen and deuterium on Venus is thought to originate in the night side ionosphere, located in the night side H and D bulge region, where the polarization electric field is the dominant force accelerating ionospheric H+ and D+ upward into the induced magnetic tail of Titan. The resulting loss rates approximately 8.6 x 10(exp26)/s and approximately 3.2 x 10(exp 23)/s for H+ and D+, respectively, are consistent with the large observed D/H ratio - 160 times that of terrestrial water and an ancient ocean more than 10 m of liquid uniformly distributed on the surface. In contrast, Jeans escape is the dominant loss mechanism for H and D on Mars, which has a D/H ratio approximately 5.3 times that of terrestrial water. The resulting loss rates for H and D of approximately 3.7 x 10(exp 26/s and approximately 10(exp 22)/s, respectively, can be related to possible ancient water reservoirs below the surface. When horizontal atmospheric winds are taken into account, the Jeans escape rates for H and D are enhanced considerably, as are the corresponding water reservoirs. On Titan, 28 amu ions were observed to escape along its induced magnetic tail by the Voyager 1 Plasma Science Instrument (PLS). In analogy with Venus, the escaping ions were thought to originate in the ionosphere. The Cassini mission permits a test of this principle due to the numerous flybys of Titan through both the ionosphere and the tail. A polarization electric field is obtained in the ionosphere of the TA flyby, yielding an upward acceleration of 17 and 28 amu ionospheric ions that is consistent with the flux of heavy ionospheric ions observed escaping along the magnetic tail by the Cassini Ion Mass Spectrometer (CAPS) during the T9 flyby.

Hartle, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Cassini Orbit Determination Performance during Saturn Satellite Tour: August 2005 - January 2006

During the period spanning the second Enceladus flyby in July 2005 through the eleventh Titan encounter in January 2006, the Cassini spacecraft was successfully navigated through eight close-targeted satellite encounters. Three of these encounters included the 500 km flybys of the icy satellites Hyperion, Dione and Rhea and five targeted flybys of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. This paper will show how our refinements to Saturn's satellite ephemerides have improved orbit determination predictions. These refinements include the mass estimates of Saturn and its satellites by better than 0.5%. Also, it will be shown how this better orbit determination performance has helped to eliminate several statistical maneuvers that were scheduled to clean-up orbit determination and/or maneuver-execution errors.

Rhea↗
NASA NTRS2009

MESSENGER Observations of Mercury's Dynamic Magnetosphere

MESSENGER's 14 January and 6 October 2008 encounters with Mercury have provided new measurements dynamic variations in the coupled atmosphere magnetosphere system. The two flybys took place under very different interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. The northward IMF during the first encounter produced a very quiet, stable magnetosphere. Neutral sodium atoms and photo-ions were observed to high altitudes ; > 2000 km, even in the subsolar region demonstrating the important role played by more energetic neutral atom production processes such as sputtering. Consistent with predictions of magnetospheric models for northward IMF, the neutral atmosphere was observed to have its strongest sources in the high latitude northern hemisphere for the first flyby. The southward IMF for the second encounter revealed a highly dynamic magnetosphere. Reconnection between the interplanetary and planetary magnetic fields is known to control the rate of energy transfer from the solar wind and to drive magnetospheric convection. The MESSENGER magnetic field measurements revealed that the rate at which interplanetary magnetic fields were reconnecting to planetary fields was a factor of 10 greater than is usually observed at Earth. This extremely high reconnection results in a large magnetic field component normal to the magnetopause and the formation of flux transfer events that are much larger relative to the size of the forward magnetosphere than is observed at Earth. The resulting magnetospheric configuration allows the solar wind access to much of the dayside surface of the Mercury. This widespread impingement of the solar wind on Mercury's surface is a likely source of the less structured sodium exosphere imaged during the second flyby and quite possibly the high degree of exospheric temporal variability observed by ground-based telescopes.

Slavin, James A.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Saturn's Magnetospheric Interaction with Titan as Defined by Cassini Encounters T9 and T18: New Results

We present new results of Cassini s T9 flyby with complementary observations from T18. Based on Cassini plasma spectrometer (CAPS) and Cassini magnetometer (MAG), compositional evidence shows the upstream flow for both T9 and T18 appears composed of light ions (H+ and H2+), with external pressures approx.30 times lower than that for the earlier TA flyby where heavy ions dominated the magnetospheric plasma. When describing the plasma heating and sputtering of Titan s atmosphere, T9 and T18 can be considered interactions of low magnetospheric energy input. On the other hand, T5, when heavy ion fluxes are observed to be higher than typical (i.e., TA), represents the limiting case of high magnetospheric energy input to Titan s upper atmosphere. Beyond this distance the corona forms a neutral torus that surrounds Saturn. The T9 flyby unexpectedly resulted in observation of two wake crossings referred to as Events 1 and 2. Event 2 was evidently caused by draped magnetosphere field lines, which are scavenging pickup ions from Titan s induced magnetopause boundary with outward flux approx.2 x 10(exp 6) ions/sq cm/s. The composition of this out flow is dominated by H2+ and H+ ions. Ionospheric flow away from Titan with ion flux approx7 x 10(exp 6) ion/sq cm/s is observed for Event 1. In between Events 1 and 2 are high energy field aligned flows of magnetosphere protons that may have been accelerated by the convective electric field across Titan s topside ionosphere. T18 observations are much closer to Titan than T9, allowing one to probe this type of interaction down to altitudes approx.950 km. Comparisons with previously reported hybrid simulations are made.

Sittler, E. C., Jr.↗