Deployable mini-payloads are envisioned as small, simple, standalone instruments that could be deployed from a mother vehicle such as a rover or the proposed Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter to key points of interest within the solar system. Used in conjunction with a small radioisotope power system (RPS), these payloads could potentially be used for long-duration science missions or as positional beacons for rovers or other spacecraft. The RPS power source would be suitable for deployable mini-payload missions that would take place anywhere there is limited, intermittent, or no solar insolation. This paper introduces two such concepts: (1) a seismic monitoring station deployed by a rover or aerobot, and (2) a passive fields and particles station delivered by a mother spacecraft to Jupiter.
Deployable Mini-Payload Missions Enabled by Small Radioisotope Power Systems (RPSs)
Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) ; 2005 ; Albuquerque, NM, United States
2005-02-13
Preprint
No indication
English
Deployable Mini-Payload Missions Enabled by Small Radioisotope Power Systems (RPSs)
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