MDO approach for early design of aerobraking orbital transfer vehicles

This paper presents a new multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) methodology for preliminary design of an aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicle (AOTV) performing a two-way transfer between a low-Earth “parking” orbit and a high-energy orbit. This work has been performed in the frame of Onera's CENTOR [N. Bérend, C. Jolly, F. Jouhaud, D. Lazaro, Y. Mauriot, C. Monjaret, J.M. Moschetta, M. Parlier, J.L. Pastre, Y. Servouze, J.L. Vérant, Project CENTOR: Preparing the design of future orbital transfer vehicles; IAC-07-D.2.3.07, in: 58th International Astronautical Congress, 24–28/09/2007, Hyderabad, India] project whose objective is to prepare tools and methodology for studying and designing future space transportation systems for new kinds of missions such as on-orbit servicing (OOS), payload ferrying, or in-situ observation of space-debris. Using simplified models and an appropriate low-dimension formulation for the optimization problem the method makes possible to obtain rapidly and easily a global view of the trade-off between the payload mass and the total mass. It also makes possible to discuss the feasibility of the vehicle with regard to different multidisciplinary constraints and technology hypotheses for the heat shield. This approach is illustrated by eight different AOTV design studies, considering two different missions (LEO–MEO and LEO–GEO), two different propulsion technologies (LOX-LH2 and LOX-CH4) and two different thermal protection system (TPS) characteristics. In each case, we discuss the feasibility and characteristics of the lightest vehicle carrying a prescribed 100 kg payload, and, conversely, a heavy vehicle with a prescribed 18 ton total mass, carrying the heaviest possible payload.     

Low-energy near Earth asteroid capture using Earth flybys and aerobraking

Since the Sun-Earth libration points L₁ and L₂ are regarded as ideal locations for space science missions and candidate gateways for future crewed interplanetary missions, capturing near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) around the Sun-Earth L₁/L₂ points has generated significant interest. Therefore, this paper proposes the concept of coupling together a flyby of the Earth and then capturing small NEAs onto Sun–Earth L₁/L₂ periodic orbits. In this capture strategy, the Sun-Earth circular restricted three-body problem (CRTBP) is used to calculate target Lypaunov orbits and their invariant manifolds. A periapsis map is then employed to determine the required perigee of the Earth flyby. Moreover, depending on the perigee distance of the flyby, Earth flybys with and without aerobraking are investigated to design a transfer trajectory capturing a small NEA from its initial orbit to the stable manifolds associated with Sun-Earth L₁/L₂ periodic orbits. Finally, a global optimization is carried out, based on a detailed design procedure for NEA capture using an Earth flyby. Results show that the NEA capture strategies using an Earth flyby with and without aerobraking both have the potential to be of lower cost in terms of energy requirements than a direct NEA capture strategy without the Earth flyby. Moreover, NEA capture with an Earth flyby also has the potential for a shorter flight time compared to the NEA capture strategy without the Earth flyby.