The large number of Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA’s) provide almost daily launch opportunities to send small rideshare spacecraft to explore our nearest neighbors. Most asteroid missions require large spacecraft with a dedicated launch service. The large delta-V required for an interplanetary trajectory would typically preclude a NEA flyby rideshare unless it was going to the same target body as the primary mission. In this paper, a low-cost, compact, high energy kick stage with 3-axissteeringis proposed that would enable this mission type. This kick stage is compatible with an ESPA ring so that multiple NEA missions can be deployed as rideshares on a single launch.
Enabling Multiple Small Satellite Near-Earth Asteroid Flyby Missions Using Small Solid Rocket Kick Stages with Rideshare Opportunities
2024 AIAA SciTech Forum ; 2024 ; Orlando, FL, US
Conference paper
No indication
English
Low energy near-earth asteroid flyby missions
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