Sanchez, JP;
Morante, D;
Hermosin, P;
Ranuschio, D;
Estalella, A;
Viera, D;
Centuori, S;
... Tubiana, C; + view all
(2021)
ESA F-Class Comet Interceptor: Trajectory design to intercept a yet-to-be-discovered comet.
Acta Astronautica
, 188
pp. 265-277.
10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.07.014.
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Abstract
Comet Interceptor (Comet-I) was selected in June 2019 as the first ESA F-Class mission. In 2029+, Comet-I will hitch a ride to a Sun-Earth L2 quasi-halo orbit, as a co-passenger of ESA's M4 ARIEL mission. It will then remain idle at the L2 point until the right departure conditions are met to intercept a yet-to-be-discovered long period comet (or interstellar body). The fact that Comet-I target is thus unidentified becomes a key aspect of the trajectory and mission design. The paper first analyses the long period comet population and concludes that 2 to 3 feasible targets a year should be expected. Yet, Comet-I will only be able to access some of these, depending mostly on the angular distance between the Earth and the closest nodal point to the Earth's orbit radius. A preliminary analysis of the transfer trajectories has been performed to assess the trade-off between the accessible region and the transfer time for a given spacecraft design, including a fully chemical, a fully electric and a hybrid propulsion system. The different Earth escape options also play a paramount role to enhance Comet-I capability to reach possible long period comet targets. Particularly, Earth-leading intercept configurations have the potential to benefit the most from lunar swing-by departures. Finally, a preliminary Monte Carlo analysis shows that Comet-I has a 95–99% likelihood of successfully visit a pristine newly-discovered long period comet in less than 6 years of mission timespan.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | ESA F-Class Comet Interceptor: Trajectory design to intercept a yet-to-be-discovered comet |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.07.014 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.07.014 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Comet-I; Trajectory design; Hybrid propulsion trajectories; Third body effects; Lunar swing-by |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10142514 |
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