A three degree-of-freedom computer simulation has been developed to perform Martian aeroassist trajectories using the HYPAS guidance algorithm. This simulator was used to perform a parametric study at the Johnson Space Center of various low L/D vehicles and their performance with the inclusion of vehicle and atmospheric dispersions. The ultimate goal is to define an extreme (minimum L/D) aeroassist configuration for the Mars Rover/Sample Return Mission to compare with the previously defined biconic aeroshell. The study shows that a raked cone vehicle with L/D betweeen 0.3 and 0.6 will perform adequately in the Martian environment in the presence of dispersions. Average apoapsis error for the 0.6 L/D vehicle was 11.9 km (6.4 nm) above the 2000 km target which compares fairly well with an error of 3.5 km (1.9 nm) for the 1.5 L/D biconic vehicle. The study concluded that the low L/D raked configuration warrants further study which could include stability analysis as well as the inclusion of density shears and dynamic atmospheric variations.


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    Title :

    Aeroassist vehicle requirements for a Mars Rover/Sample Return Mission


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    1988-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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