An assessment of the long-term collision risk is made for an uncontrolled orbiting spacecraft that repeatedly enters the spatial region occupied by the satellites. Numerical data are obtained for 50-year orbit propagations which account approximately for the major perturbative effects of Jupiter oblateness, solar gravity and satellite gravity. A broad statistical viewpoint regarding the question of collision likelihood is adopted and is based on a total sample size of 480 initial orbits distributed among 4 orbit classes, 8 inclinations and 15 initial epochs. Numerical results compare favorably with an analytical prediction formula which shows that eccentric low-inclination orbits have high collision probability.


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    Title :

    Jupiter orbiter lifetime - The hazard of Galilean satellite collision


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    1975-12-01


    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :