The technology requirements for the design of a generic aerocapture vehicle system are summarized. These spacecraft have the capability of completely eliminating fuel-costly retropropulsion for planetary orbit capture through a single aerodynamically controlled atmospheric braking pass from a hyperbolic trajectory into a near circular orbit. This generic system has application at both the inner and outer planets. Spacecraft design integration, navigation, communications, and aerothermal protection system design problems were assessed in the technology requirements study and are discussed in this paper.
Technology requirements for a generic aerocapture system
Thermophysics Conference ; 1980 ; Snowmass, CO
1980-07-01
Conference paper
No indication
English
Technology requirements for a generic aerocapture system
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