The large number of Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA’s) provide almost daily launch opportunities to send small rideshare spacecraft to explore our nearest neighbors. Most asteroid missions require large spacecraft with a dedicated launch service. The large delta-V required for an interplanetary trajectory would typically preclude a NEA flyby rideshare unless it was going to the same target body as the primary mission. In this paper, a low-cost, compact, high energy kick stage with 3-axissteeringis proposed that would enable this mission type. This kick stage is compatible with an ESPA ring so that multiple NEA missions can be deployed as rideshares on a single launch.


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    Title :

    Enabling Multiple Small Satellite Near-Earth Asteroid Flyby Missions Using Small Solid Rocket Kick Stages with Rideshare Opportunities


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2023


    Size :

    15 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English