Browsing by Author "Sánchez Cuartielles, Joan Pau"

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    Asteroid belt multiple flyby options for M-Class Missions
    (International Astronautical Federation, 2016-09-30) Sánchez Cuartielles, Joan Pau; Gibbings, Alison; Snodgrass, Colin; Green, Simon F.; Bowles, Neil E.
    Addressing many of the fundamental questions in modern planetary science, as well as in ESA’s cosmic vision, requires a comprehensive knowledge of our Solar System’s asteroid belt. This paper investigates potential opportunities for medium-class asteroid belt survey missions in the timeframe of 2029-2030. The study has been developed in support to CASTAway Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey mission proposal, which is to be submitted to the latest ESA’s medium size mission call. CASTAway envisages the launch of a small telescope with relatively straightforward (i.e. high TRL) remote sensing instrumentation to observe asteroids at a long-range (i.e. point source), but also at a short-range, resolving them at ~10 m resolution. This paper presents a challenging multi-objective optimization problem and discusses the feasibility of such a mission concept. A baseline trajectory is presented that meets both ESA’s medium size mission constraints and the science requirements. The trajectory loops through the asteroid belt during 7 years, visiting 10 objects of a wide range of characteristics, providing sufficient survey time to obtain compositional information for 10,000s of objects and the serendipitous discovery of also 10,000s of 10-m class asteroids. The methodology developed has enabled the exploration of the entire design space for a conservative Soyuz-launch performance, and has found a total of 200 different tour opportunities of the asteroid belt; all compliant with ESA’s 5th call for medium size missions.
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    Near rectilinear orbits around the moon as operational orbit for the future deep space gateway
    (European Space Agency, 2018-11-09) Sánchez Lara, Carlos; Sánchez Cuartielles, Joan Pau
    The aim of this paper is to revise the suitability of Near- Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NRHOs) as long-term destinations for a new crew-tended space station; referred here as Deep Space Gateway (DSG). NRHOs are a subset of the halo families characterized by promising stability properties. The document presents the formal definition and identification of NRHOs, as in the CR3BP model. Dynamical substitutes of the NRHOs are also refined in the Bi-Circular Model (BCM) by means of a multiple shooting method. Key features such as lunar south-pole coverage, station keeping requirements and accessibility of the orbit are then analysed. Several maintenance strategies based on three different underlying principles are considered and, finally, the accessibility of NRHOs from the Earth and polar Moon orbits is investigated.
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    Opportunities for ballistic soft landing in binary asteroids
    (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2017-03-29) Çelik, Onur; Sánchez Cuartielles, Joan Pau
    Remote sensing instrumentation onboard missions to asteroids is paramount to address many of the fundamental questions in modern planetary science. Yet in situ surface measurements provide the “ground truth” necessary to validate and enhance the science return of these missions. Nevertheless, because of the dynamical uncertainties associated with the environment near these objects, most missions spend long periods of times stationed afar. Small landers can be used much more daringly, however, and thus have already been identified as valuable assets for in situ exploration. This paper explores the potential for ballistic landing opportunities enabled by the natural dynamics found in binary asteroid systems. The dynamics near a binary asteroid are modeled by means of the circular restricted three-body problem, which provides a reasonable representation of a standard binary system. Natural landing trajectories are then sought that allow for a deployment from the exterior region and touchdown with minimum local-vertical velocity. The results show that, although landing on the main body of the system would require an effective landing system capable to dissipate excess of energy and avoid bouncing off the asteroid, the smaller companion offers the prospect of simple ballistic landing opportunities.
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    Semi-analytical perturbative approaches to third body resonant trajectories
    (International Astronautical Federation, 2015-10-16) Sánchez Cuartielles, Joan Pau; Colombo, Camilla; Alessi, Elisa Maria
    In the framework of multi-body dynamics, successive encounters with a third body, even if well outside of its sphere of influence, can noticeably alter the trajectory of a spacecraft. Examples of these effects have already been exploited by past missions such as SMART-1, as well as are proposed to benefit future missions to Jupiter, Saturn or Neptune, and disposal strategies from Earth’s High Eccentric or Libration Point Orbits. This paper revises three totally different descriptions of the effects of the third body gravitational perturbation. These are the averaged dynamics of the classical third body perturbing function, the Öpik’s close encounter theory and the Keplerian map approach. The first two techniques have respectively been applied to the cases of a spacecraft either always remaining very far or occasionally experiencing extremely close approaches to the third body. However, the paper also seeks solutions for trajectories that undergo one or more close approaches at distances in the order of the sphere of influence of the third body. The paper attempts to gain insight into the accuracy of these different perturbative techniques into each of these scenarios, as compared with the motion in the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem.