Title:
Trajectory Trade-space Design for Robotic
Entry at Titan
Trajectory Trade-space Design for Robotic
Entry at Titan
| dc.contributor.advisor | Braun, Robert D. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Roelke, Evan | |
| dc.contributor.corporatename | Georgia Institute of Technology. Space Systems Design Lab | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-02-16T18:45:41Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-02-16T18:45:41Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2017-05-01 | |
| dc.description | AE 8900 MS Special Problems Report | |
| dc.description.abstract | In recent years, scientific focus has emphasized other ocean worlds such as Europa, Enceladus, and Titan, due to their potential for harboring life. The only spacecraft ever to land on these moons was the Huygens Probe in 2005; however, this probe’s main purpose was to study the atmosphere and surface of Titan, with no real landing target. Future missions to other ocean worlds would likely require a science target and thus add several constraints to the mission such as arrival time, entry state, and aeroshell geometry, among others. Of the three ocean worlds previously mentioned, Titan is an optimal target for initial mission concepts for several reasons. The atmospheric composition, winds, and surface features are well studied by Cassini and the Huygens Probe. Additionally, of the aforementioned moons, Titan does not have a thick ice sheet to penetrate in order to sample the surface and/or liquid seas, enabling such mission to double as a stepping stone for missions to other ocean worlds. Finally, Titan exhibits a myriad of interesting planetary features that, if studied, could further the understanding of both Titan’s and the solar system’s geologic history. In this paper we analyze the trade-spaces of various important parameters involved in Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) as it pertains to robotic missions for Titan in order to provide a guideline for optimizing a mission’s system parameters while minimizing both system complexity and the landing footprint. It is found that the ideal geometry is a ballistic spherecone body entering from orbit to allow flexibility in the entry state vector. The aerothermodynamic environment is most affected by the entry velocity and the vehicle bluntness ratio, while the peak deceleration is most influenced by the entry velocity and entry flight path angle. In addition, multiple parachutes decrease the landing footprint, impact speed, and descent time compared to single parachute systems, at the expense of being more complex. Larger ballistic coefficients decrease the landing footprint and descent time while increasing the impact speed. Finally, it is discovered that the uncertainty in the entry altitude and flight path angle have the most impact on the final state vector. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1853/73512 | |
| dc.publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology | |
| dc.rights | Unless otherwise noted, all materials are protected under U.S. Copyright Law and all rights are reserved | |
| dc.rights.metadata | https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ | |
| dc.rights.uri | https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en | |
| dc.title | Trajectory Trade-space Design for Robotic Entry at Titan | |
| dc.type | Text | |
| dc.type.genre | Masters Project | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| local.contributor.corporatename | Space Systems Design Laboratory (SSDL) | |
| local.contributor.corporatename | Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering | |
| local.relation.ispartofseries | Master's Projects | |
| local.relation.ispartofseries | Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering | |
| relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication | dc68da3d-4cfe-4508-a4b0-35ba8de923fb | |
| relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication | a348b767-ea7e-4789-af1f-1f1d5925fb65 | |
| relation.isSeriesOfPublication | 09b1c264-93da-4a60-8e57-4eecff715bc6 | |
| relation.isSeriesOfPublication | 09844fbb-b7d9-45e2-95de-849e434a6abc |
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