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Launch Systems | Space Systems | Mission Engineering

Hummingbird: Versatile Interplanetary Mission Architecture

Abstract: This paper will present the Hummingbird concept and its strengths that enable versatile interplanetary mission architectures.  Interplanetary missions and system architectures for small satellites require a new type of thinking.  Specifically, taking...

Design of a Mars Rapid Round Trip Mission

Abstract: The present work is divided in two parts. The first part analyzes the basic constraints of interplanetary round trip travel, and calculates an interplanetary train schedule (ITS) of missions to Mars in the general case of orbits with non-zero eccentricity...

XNAV for Deep Space Navigation

Abstract: The concept of utilizing pulsars for spacecraft navigation has been in development since the discovery of these rapidly rotating neutron stars in the 1960’s [1]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) conducted studies in the 70’s and 80’s proposing the use of...

Interplanetary Round Trip Mission Design

Abstract: This paper defines the basic constraints for interplanetary round trip travel or, equivalently, for round trip travel from and to a natural or artificial satellite, such as round trips from the International Space Station to another satellite and back. While...