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Exploring Long-Period Comets from Multiple Staging Orbits

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Abstract

Objects that have retained pieces of information about the early Solar System are key to our understanding of its formation and evolutionary history. However, the high delta-V required to reach these objects, such as long-period comets or interstellar objects, makes designing an intercept mission at the time of detection impractical. In this paper, we explore multiple heliocentric staging orbits around Lagrange points to serve as departure positions for future missions, prior to objects’ detections. By utilizing more than one staging orbit concurrently, we expand the set of objects that are reachable, therefore increasing mission feasibility. Delta-V maps are generated and superimposed; two-impulse burn trajectories are simulated and compared between the different staging orbits.

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Code Availability

MATLAB and GMAT files fully available upon request

Abbreviations

au :

= Astronomical unit

C 3 :

= Characteristic energy, km2/s2

Δ V :

= Delta-V to achieve desired hyperbolic excess velocity from circular orbit, km/s

μ s :

= Sun’s gravitational parameter, km3/s2

n J :

= Jupiter’s mean motion, rad/s

Φ o :

= Phase angle for Hohmann Transfer, rad

R E :

= Earth’s semimajor axis of orbit, km

R JL1 :

= Sun-Jupiter’s L1 semimajor axis of orbit, km

t 12 :

= Hohmann Transfer time of flight, s

v c :

= Velocity of object in a circular orbit around the Earth, km/s

\(v_{\infty }\) :

= Hyperbolic excess velocity, km/s

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Western Michigan University

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Western Michigan University, 1903 W Michigan Ave, Kalamazoo, MI, 49008, USA

    Gabriel Prescinotti Vivan

  2. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Naval Postgraduate School, 1 University Circle, Monterey, CA, 93943, USA

    Jennifer Hudson

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Correspondence to Gabriel Prescinotti Vivan.

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Vivan, G.P., Hudson, J. Exploring Long-Period Comets from Multiple Staging Orbits. J Astronaut Sci 68, 608–641 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-021-00271-2

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