Baresi, Nicola;
Green, Lucie;
Morgan, Huw;
Underwood, Craig;
Bridges, Christopher P;
Lucca Fabris, Andrea;
Ryden, Keith;
(2024)
MESOM: A Moon-Enabled Sun Occultation Mission.
In:
31st IAA Symposium on Small Satellite Missions.
(pp. pp. 100-120).
International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
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Abstract
The study of the solar corona has important ramifications on the understanding and forecasting of coronal mass ejections, solar flares, and solar energetic particle events that can pose a significant threat to society. Yet, regardless of scientific breakthroughs brought by space-based coronagraphs, access to the lowest layers of the Sun’s atmosphere remains challenging because of vignetting and stray light effects that significantly degrade signal-to-noise ratios in these regions. An alternative approach, first proposed by Eckersley and Kemble, advocates creating artificial total eclipses in space by flying a spacecraft in the shadow of the Moon. This paper introduces the preliminary trajectory design analyses and trade-off studies of a Moon-Enabled Sun Occultation Mission (MESOM). By means of synodic resonant orbits that exists in the chaotic dynamics of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, trajectories capable of delivering on average 15 minutes per synodic month (29.6 days circa) of manoeuvre-free solar corona observations below 1.02 sun radii were identified and used as a baseline for the preliminary design of a 2+ year-long satellite mission.
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | MESOM: A Moon-Enabled Sun Occultation Mission |
| Event: | 31st IAA Symposium on Small Satellite Missions, Held at the 75th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2024) |
| Dates: | 14 Oct 2024 - 18 Oct 2024 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.52202/078365-0012 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.52202/078365-0012 |
| 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: | MESOM, Space Mission Design, Solar Corona, Space Weather |
| 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/10214072 |
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