Interplanetary Trajectories

Dr. Troy Henderson

 Our Solar System
• The word “Planet” means wanderer.
The earliest astronomers observed
with a naked-eye that planets wander
among stars.
• Planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune.
• Pluto is a minor planet or dwarf
planet like Ceres and Eris
• There are some minor planet or
asteroids between Mars and Jupiter
o
• Except for Mercury( i~7 , e=0.2056),
the orbits of the planets are nearly
circular and lie nearly in the plane of
ecliptic
• For Pluto i~17o, e=0.2583

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Perspective
• http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_sola
rsystem.html

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Perspective

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Jupiter’s Orbit Holds Asteroids

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Speed

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Further Perspective

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Lunar Landing
• In the span of 66 years, we went from powered flight
to landing on the Moon.

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New Horizons Approaches Pluto
over 12 months

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Images from the surface…

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Mathematical Predictions
• June 8, 1705 Sir Edmond Halley published a
pamphlet estimating periods of comets based on
Newton’s gravity model
• He predicted a bright comet would reappear in December
1758, and it did on Christmas day
• Uranus was discovered by the Herschels in March
1781 using their telescope (first “discovered”)
• Neptune was the first mathematically discovered
planet
• LeVerrier (Nov 1845) and Adams (Jan 1846)
• Telescopic discovery Sept 24, 1846

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Interplanetary Travel
• In April 1610, Kepler wrote to Galileo suggesting they
cooperate in mapping the moon and planets in anticipation of
the celestial voyagers of the future
• Jules Verne and H.G. Wells brought ideas to the public eye
via science fiction (late 1800s)

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Lunar Missions

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Apollo Trajectory

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Interplanetary/Interstellar

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Voyager 1 & 2

• Twin 722 kg satellites

launched in 1977
• Voyager 1 is the furthest
manmade object from
earth
• On 15 June 2012, NASA
scientists reported that
Voyager 1 had broken
through the heliosheath
into interstellar space
• http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

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Messenger’s Trajectory To Mercury

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Cassini-Huygens
• Flagship-class NASA/ESA/ASI satellite to the Saturn
system
• Launched Oct 15, 1997, arrived July 1, 2004
• Flew past Venus, Earth, and Jupiter on the way
• Mission was to investigate: 3D structure and
dynamics of rings, composition of moons,
magnetosphere measurement, Saturn’s atmosphere

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Cassini Spacecraft

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Cassini Trajectory To Saturn

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Cassini Trajectory Near Saturn

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Cassini Trajectory to Saturn
• Why didn’t Cassini perform a Hohmann transfer?
• TOF ≈ 6 years
• No existing rocket capable of direct insertion into transfer
orbit (it weighed ~2,525 kg)
• Size and weight prohibitive to include another engine to
boost Cassini from LEO
• Enter the gravity assist flyby

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Let’s Go to Mars!

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Mars Rovers

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Hyperbolic Orbits Review

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A Four-Body Problem

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Patched Conics Approximation
• Use what we know
• Break the problem down into simpler problems

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Patched Conics Approximation

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Patched Conics Approximation

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Patched Conics Approximation

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Sphere of Influence (SOI)
• The Sphere of Influence (SOI) is the spherical region
around a celestial body where the dominant
gravitational influence on an orbiting object is that
body.
• For interplanetary mission analysis, SOI is used to
describe the region where a planet dominates the
orbits of nearby spacecraft or moons
• Are you orbiting Earth or the Sun?
• The patched conic approach is approximately
valid within the SOI 2/5
 mp 
rSOI = a p  
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 ms 
An Example
• mEarth = 5.974E24 kg
• mSun = 1.989E30 kg
• REarth/Sun = 149.6E6 km
2/5
 5.974 E 24 
rSOI = 149.6 E 6  = 0.925 E 6 km
 1.989 E 30 
• rSOI = 145 earth radii (rSOI = 23,460 earth radii for
the Sun)

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Sphere of Influence

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Launch Windows
• Phasing maneuvers are not practical due to the large
periods of the heliocentric orits.
• The planet should arrive at the apse line of the
transfer ellipse at the same time the spacecraft does.

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Phase Angle at Departure:
Earth to Mars

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An Example
• Note that 2π T1T2
τs = =
n1 − n2 T1 − T2

• TEarth = 365.26 days

• TMars = 687.99 days
• τs = 778.7 days
• So it takes 2.13 years for a given configuration of
Mars relative to the Earth to occur again

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Example (continued)
• Mars must be ahead of Earth by 44o
• Using a Hohmann transfer, a return mission
(manned) would take
• Transfer + Wait (Phase) + Transfer
• 259 + 454 + 259 = 972 days = 2.66 years!

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However…

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An Elliptical Heliocentic Transfer Orbit

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An Elliptical Heliocentic Transfer Orbit

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An Elliptical Heliocentic Transfer Orbit

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An Elliptical Heliocentic Transfer Orbit

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Hyperbolic Escape from Earth’s SOI

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Hyperbolic Escape from Earth’s SOI

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Hyperbolic Escape From Earth’s SOI

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An Example
• A spacecraft is initially in a circular orbit about Earth
with an altitude of 400 km.
• The spacecraft is to perform a Δv such that when it
leaves Earth's sphere of influence, it has a
heliocentric velocity of 32 km/s and a heliocentric
fight-path angle of 0 deg.
• What is the required Δv?

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Hyperbolic Arrival at Target Planet

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Hyperbolic Arrival at Target Planet

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An Example
• A spacecraft arrives at Mars' sphere of influence with
a heliocentric velocity of 22 km/s and a heliocentric
fight-path angle of 10 deg.
• When the spacecraft reaches the periapsis of its
Mars-centric arrival trajectory, at an altitude of 200
km, it performs a Δv to circularize its trajectory.
• What is the required Δv?

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Summary

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Planetary Flyby
• While Hohmann transfers are minimum energy, they
have very long flight times
• Under certain conditions, we can cut trip tim and
decrease Δv
• Can change magnitude and/or direction

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Planetary Flyby

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Planetary Capture
• The radius of perigee for the minimum Δv circular
orbit at capture is
2µ
rp = 2
v∞
• Substituting back in we get
v∞
∆v min =
2
• Note: this is not the minimum energy capture

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Sensitivity Analysis
• What effects do small errors in position and velocity
at the maneuver point have on the trajectory?

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Sensitivity Example
• Earth to Mars from a 300km circular orbit

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Sensitivity Analysis: Launch Errors
• The Ariane V rocket has the following errors on a
standard launch
Orbit Element Error
Semimajor Axis 40 km
Eccentricity 4.5x10-4
Inclination 0.02 deg
Argument of Perigee 0.2 deg
Ascending Node 0.2 deg

• Mid-course corrections are mandatory!

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