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Applying Experience from Mercury Encounters to MESSENGER’s Mercury Orbit Mission
— 31 Jul - 01 Aug 2011
The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
Ranging (MESSENGER) mission is the seventh mission in NASA’s Discovery
Program series. The spacecraft was launched in August 2004 and began
an interplanetary cruise that culminated in insertion into orbit about
Mercury in March of 2011 for a nominal one-year scientific investigation.
The cruise phase included six planetary gravity-assist flybys and
eighteen propulsive events, which included five large deep-space
maneuvers, one in two parts, and twelve smaller trajectory-correction
burns. From the approach to the first Mercury flyby through orbital
insertion about the innermost planet, an interval that spanned over three
years, solar sailing was employed successfully for trajectory correction.
This paper describes the navigation performance achieved for the three
Mercury flybys and how experiences gained during the mission cruise
phase have been applied to support Mercury orbit insertion and
maintenance operations during the Mercury orbital phase of the
MESSENGER mission.
AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference – AAS 11-549
Authors: Brian R. Page, Kenneth E. Williams, Anthony H. Taylor, Dale R. Stanbridge,
Christopher G. Bryan, Peter J. Wolff, and Bobby G. Williams – KinetX, Inc., Space
Navigation and Flight Dynamics, Simi Valley, California; Daniel J. O’Shaughnessy and
Sarah H. Flanigan – The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel,
Maryland
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Achievable Force Model Accuracies for MESSENGER in Mercury Orbit
— 31 Jul - 01 Aug 2011
The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
Ranging (MESSENGER) mission is the seventh mission in NASA’s
Discovery Program. The spacecraft, launched from Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station in August 2004, arrived in orbit about Mercury in
March 2011 to begin a one-year scientific investigation. While in orbit,
the spacecraft is subject to a variety of forces, including Mercury and
solar gravity, solar and planetary radiation effects, and propulsive
events associated with orbit correction and momentum desaturation.
This paper describes the challenges for navigation in terms of achieving
the highest accuracy possible for relevant force models to support orbit
determination and reconstruction over the Mercury orbital phase of the
MESSENGER mission.
AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference – AAS 11-548
Authors: Dale R. Stanbridge, Kenneth E. Williams, Anthony H. Taylor, Brian R. Page,
Christopher G. Bryan, David W. Dunham, Peter Wolff, and Bobby G. Williams – KinetX
Aerospace Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics, Simi Valley, California; James V. McAdams,
and Dawn P. Moessner – The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,
Laurel, Maryland
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Advanced Navigation Strategies for an Asteroid Sample Return Mission
— 31 Jul - 01 Aug 2011
The proximity operations phases of a sample retuen mission to an asteroid have
been analyzed using advanced navigation techniques derived from experience
gained in planetary exploration. These techniques rely on tracking types such as
Earth-based radio metric Doppler and ranging, spacecraft-based ranging, and
optical navigation using images of landmarks on the asteroid surface.
Navigation strategies for the orbital phases leading up to sample collection, the
touch down for collecting the sample, and the post sample collection phase at
the asteroid are included. Options for successfully executing the phases are
studied using covariance analysis and Monte Carlo simulations of an example
mission to the Earth asteroid 4660 Nereus. The landing options were
studied including trajectories with either one or two burns from orbit to the
surface. Additionally, a comparison of post-sample collection strategies is
presented. These strategies include remaining in orbit about the asteroid or
standing-off a given distance until departure to Earth.
AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference – AAS 11-499
Authors: J. Bauman, B. Williams, and K. Williams – KinetX, Inc. Space Navigation and
Flight Dynamics, Simi Valley, California; K. Getzandanner – Navigation & Mission
Design Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
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Algorithms for MUOS Capacity Analysis
— 29-31, Oct 2007
The Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) for satellite communications (SATCOM) is being developed to
provide important beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) communications for tactical military users.
There is a keen interest in the MUOS data rate capacity as it relates to the available system
bandwidth. A set of wide-band code-division multiple access (WCDMA) waveforms will be used to
share bandwidth among users and so multiple access interference (MAI) must be considered in
evaluating system capacity. In addition, frequency reuse is accomplished based on the
employment of multiple satellite beams. While this improves the system capacity, it
complicates the supportability analysis because adjacent beam interference can increase the MAI and,
as a result, can impact system capacity. The purpose of this paper is to develop algorithms
that determine supportability for a given set of links in the MUOS system…
Authors: Jim Marshall, Dr. Lynam Hazelton, Parimal Pal, Per Kullstam, Anne Grigals
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Early Navigation Results for NASA’s MESSENGER Mission to Mercury
— 23-27 Jan 2005
MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission is being flown as
the seventh mission in NASA’s Discovery Program. The MESSENGER mission is led by the
principal investigator, Sean C. Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The
project is managed by and the spacecraft was built and is operated by The John Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory. Navigation for the spacecraft is provided by the Space Navigation
and Flight Dynamics Practice of KinetX, Inc., a private corporation…
15th AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Conference – AAS 05-176
Authors: B. Williams, A. Taylor, E. Carranza, J. Miller, D. Stanbridge, B. Page, D. Cotter, and L.
Efron – KinetX, Inc., Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics, Simi Valley, California; R.
Farquhar, J. McAdams, and D. Dunham – The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,
Laurel, Maryland
- Configurable Spacecraft Control Architectures for On-Orbit Servicing and Upgrading of Long Life Orbital Platforms — 06-13 Mar 2004
Large orbital platforms provide unique and essential space-based capabilities for science, intelligence, and defense missions potentially supporting very large aperture imagers, antenna farms, SARs, radiometers and other systems.
In order to provide maximum return on the investment required, it is essential to have a significant autonomous on-orbit servicing, upgrade and repair capability such that the platform can operate successfully for decades and have new platforms added to it…
2004 IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings
Authors: James Ross, Honeywell DSES, Glendale, Colorado;
David Musliner, Honeywell Laboratories, Minneapolis, Minnesota;
Thomas Kreider, Honeywell DSES, Glendale, Colorado;
Jack Jacobs, Honeywell DSES, Glendale, Colorado;
Michael Fisher, KinetX, Inc., Tempe, Arizona
- The B612 Mission Design — 23-26 Feb 2004
This paper describes a mission proposed by the B612 Foundation to demonstrate the feasibility of docking a spacecraft with a small asteroid and applying a controlled, steady thrust to it in order to measurably alter the asteroid's orbit and rotation pole by the year 2015.
The target would be a rocky 200-meter asteroid with a mass of about 10 billion kilograms that does not pose any impact threat to the Earth…
AIAA 2004 Planetary Defense Conference: Protecting Earth from Asteroids — AIAA 2004-1448
Authors: B. G. Williams, KinetX, Inc., Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics, Simi Valley, California;
D. D. Durda, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado;
D. J. Scheeres, Department of Aerospace Engineering, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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