Upon arrival at the asteroid Vesta, scheduled for July of 2011, the Dawn spacecraft will target a series of four distinct mapping orbits, each providing a unique opportunity to observe Vesta. The unknown, and potentially complex, Vesta gravity field presents challenges for designing low-thrust transfers between these mapping orbits while maintaining spacecraft safety from Vesta occultation of the Sun. This paper provides a description of the orbit transfers designed for Vesta operations along with a discussion of the constraints and methods used to design these transfers. The effect of alternate gravity fields on the viability of the designs and the design method is also considered
Low-Thrust Orbit Transfer Design for DAWN Operations at VESTA
21st AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting ; 2011 ; New Orleans, LA, United States
2011-03-13
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
Low-Thrust Orbit Transfer Design for Dawn Operations at Vesta (AAS 11-183)
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