TY - JOUR
T1 - Delta-v requirements for earth co-orbital rendezvous missions
AU - Greg Stacey, R.
AU - Connors, Martin
PY - 2009/6
Y1 - 2009/6
N2 - Earth co-orbital asteroids present advantages as potential targets for future asteroid rendezvous missions. Their prolonged proximity to Earth facilitates communication, while their Earth-like orbits mean a steady flux of solar power and no significant periodic heating and cooling of the spacecraft throughout the course of the mission. Theoretical studies show that low-inclination co-orbital orbits are more stable than high-inclination orbits. As inclination is the most significant indicator of low delta-v rendezvous orbits, there is the potential for a large population of easily accessible asteroids, with favorable engineering requirements. This study first looks at phase-independent rendezvous orbits to a large number of objects, then looks in more detail at the phase-dependent orbits to the most favorable objects. While rendezvous orbits to co-orbital objects do not have a low delta-v necessarily, some objects present energy requirements significantly less than previous rendezvous missions. Currently we find no ideal co-orbital asteroids for rendezvous missions, although theoretical Earth Trojans present very low-energy requirements for rendezvous.
AB - Earth co-orbital asteroids present advantages as potential targets for future asteroid rendezvous missions. Their prolonged proximity to Earth facilitates communication, while their Earth-like orbits mean a steady flux of solar power and no significant periodic heating and cooling of the spacecraft throughout the course of the mission. Theoretical studies show that low-inclination co-orbital orbits are more stable than high-inclination orbits. As inclination is the most significant indicator of low delta-v rendezvous orbits, there is the potential for a large population of easily accessible asteroids, with favorable engineering requirements. This study first looks at phase-independent rendezvous orbits to a large number of objects, then looks in more detail at the phase-dependent orbits to the most favorable objects. While rendezvous orbits to co-orbital objects do not have a low delta-v necessarily, some objects present energy requirements significantly less than previous rendezvous missions. Currently we find no ideal co-orbital asteroids for rendezvous missions, although theoretical Earth Trojans present very low-energy requirements for rendezvous.
KW - Asteroid
KW - Co-orbital
KW - Earth
KW - Quasi-satellite
KW - Rendezvous
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67349264137&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pss.2009.01.013
DO - 10.1016/j.pss.2009.01.013
M3 - Journal Article
AN - SCOPUS:67349264137
SN - 0032-0633
VL - 57
SP - 822
EP - 829
JO - Planetary and Space Science
JF - Planetary and Space Science
IS - 7
ER -