AAS 98-201

NAVIGATION CONSIDERATIONS FOR LOW-THRUST PLANETARY MISSIONS

P. J. Wolff, F. Pinto, B. G. Williams, R. M. Vaughan - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Abstract

Motivated by the upcoming launch of the solar electric propulsion mission New Millennium Deep Space 1 and future SEP missions such as Pluto Express, an analysis of the operational strategies affecting ground based, deep space navigation of low-thrust missions is addressed. Simulations are performed to compare strategies for radiometric doppler based calibration of the SEP engine. Covariance analysis studies are conducted for the cruise phase of the Deep Space 1 trajectory to assess different orbit determination strategies for a spacecraft whose dynamics are corrupted by a relatively large continuous stochastic perturbation.

Back