ATI's Mission Analysis for Solar System Exploration course

Summary: The present-day approach to selecting missions for solar system exploration is based largely on price-performance ratio - getting the most for the least within an acceptable level of risk. Mission analysis plays an enormous role in this process as mission designs become ever more complex to qualify under the selection criteria currently being applied. The hugely successful Cassini mission to Saturn has set the bar for level of complexity in mission design, but this distinction is temporal as the Messenger mission engages in its lengthy and circuitous path to its final destination in orbit about Mercury, preceded with several swingbys of Earth, Venus and Mercury and major space burns. As the tools and methodologies for the analysis of such missions are refined, increasingly elaborate mission designs are to be expected and demanded. This four-day course is designed to prepare engineers and technical management for the task of adequately planning and supporting the mission analysis function to successfully accomplish its role in a solar system exploration project. The course also provides the background and direction needed for those interested in mission analysis to pursue their craft in an organized and expeditious manner. Instructor: Jerry Horsewood has enjoyed a 40+ year career in mission analysis and trajectory optimization, frequently engaging in the development of innovative, cutting-edge methodologies and software tools needed for increasingly complex mission studies. Over the years, he has served as principal investigator of numerous studies for several NASA centers and as a consultant and subcontractor to major aerospace firms such as Boeing, General Dynamics, Applied Physics Laboratory, TRW/Northrop Grumman and Ball Aerospace. He is the principal developer of commercially available software products for high- and low-thrust mission analysis and trajectory optimization. Mr. Horsewood has engineering degrees from Purdue University and UCLA. What You Will Learn: What skills and capabilities are needed to successfully compete for exploration mission opportunities and associated subcontracts. What innovative concepts exist to efficiently accomplish mission objectives and when to choose one concept over another. What are the state-of-the-art methodologies for conducting mission analyses. The importance of choosing or building the appropriate software at each stage of a study. What software tools exist for performing analyses of various types of missions and what are underlying limitations of their use. Critical issues concerning the management of the mission analysis function. The information and techniques provided in this course will provide you with the basic understanding and underlying principles that are essential to successfully plan, manage and perform solar system exploration mission analysis studies. Course Outline: The Solar System Environment. Targets of exploration-sun, planets, natural satellites, asteroids, comets. Ephemerides of solar system bodies. Libration points. Building on Success. Historical exploration missions of significance. Current missions. The Discovery program. Impact of “smaller, cheaper, better” philosophy. Phases of Mission Analysis. Preliminary phase with emphasis on speed and conceptualization. Later phase with emphasis on accuracy and detail. Implication on tools and methodologies. Fundamentals of Heliocentric Orbit Transfers. Kepler’s Problem, Lambert’s Problem and its solution. Type I and Type II transfers. Posigrade and retrograde trajectories. Multiple revolution trajectories. N-pi transfers. Multi-leg Missions. Linking trajectory legs to form missions. Correspondence between target centered and heliocentric end conditions. Hyperbolic excess speed. The patched conic and matched (overlaid) asymptote models. Space burn maneuvers. Target Encounters. The planetary swingby. B-plane targeting. Powered swingbys. Planetary orbit capture and escape. Asteroid/comet flyby and rendezvous. Correlating Trajectory and Propulsion Requirements. Spacecraft mass models. Propulsion system models. The rocket equation. Impulsive velocity calculations. Estimating velocity losses resulting from finite burn effects. Reducing velocity losses.. Concepts of Exploration Mission Design. Creating and using porkchop plots. Growing importance of planetary swingbys. Swingbys always reduce propulsion requirements, right? Uses of space burns. Single and repeated planetary swingbys. Uses of n-pi transfers, Nodal transfers. Building multiple-target missions. Implications of human space flight on mission design. Trajectory and Mission Optimization. Direct versus indirect optimization methods. Formulating the problem. Dealing with convergence difficulties. Locally optimizing solutions. Case Study of a High Thrust Solar System Exploration Mission Analysis. Low-Thrust Mission Analysis and Optimization. Differences in analysis techniques compared to high-thrust missions. Methods of optimization. Commonly used software tools. Problem formulation using the Calculus of Variations. Power System Modeling. Representing array power output as a function of solar distance. Propulsion System Modeling. The classic model. Programmed modeling of the NSTAR and other current thrusters. A proposed model based on a thruster operating envelope. Case Study of Solar Electric Propulsion Mission Design and Optimization. Tuition: Tuition for this four-day course is $1495 per person at one of our scheduled public courses. Onsite pricing is available. Please call us at 410-956-8805 or send an email to ati@ATIcourses.com. 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