An extensive investigation of the ways to rendezvous with diverse groups of asteroids residing between 2.0 and 5.0 AU is made, and the extent of achievable missions using the STS upper-stage launch vehicles (IUS 2-Stage/Star-48 or NASA Centaur) is examined. With judicious use of earth, Mars, and Jupiter gravity assists, rendezvous with some asteroids in all regions of space is possible. It is also shown that the STS upper stages are capable of carrying out missions beyond a single rendezvous, namely with several flybys and/or multiple rendezvous.


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    Title :

    Main-belt asteroid exploration - Mission options for the 1990s


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    1989-09-01



    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English






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