OPAG Reports, Formal proposals/evaluations of future outer SS missions |
OPAG Reports, Formal proposals/evaluations of future outer SS missions |
Nov 9 2007, 08:28 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/announcements.html
That's one little URL with a lifetime's worth of reading material. Three detailed studies are available in PDF format. The missing body is Titan, which will be the subject of a forthcoming report. The three focus missions are: Europa Explorer: Fairly detailed description of a mission that is pretty much what Europa Orbiter would have been. Jupiter System Observer: Basically, Galileo 2 (without the antenna mishap!). The craft would start with a 3-year tour of all the Galileans, then spend 1 year in an elliptical Ganymede orbit, then the rest of the mission in a tight, polar Ganymede orbit (like MGS at Mars). That would map the heck out of Ganymede, but also be close enough to the rest of the system to make long-range observations for years. Note that Ganymede would thereby provide a lot of radiation shielding. Enceladus: where three profiles are examined in depth: Enceladus Orbiter only; Enceladus Orbiter with soft lander; Saturn orbiter with Enceladus soft lander. There's more to chew on here than I have had (or may ever have) time for, but I'll throw in my two cents' worth: Seems like a Europa-only mission would only benefit from coming after a JSO. EE would explore Europa much better than JSO would; why even have JSO observations at Europa if EE came first? In many ways, these two missions are competitive. EE would have the big payoff, but JSO seems like basic recon that would prime EE, especially giving specs on radar performance. But if we waited til JSO was 4 years into its mission before completing design of EE, then put EE sometime mid-century. If an Enceladus mission included a Saturn orbiter, then maybe the same orbiter could provide data relay for separate Titan elements. However, a lot of the Enceladus science goals would require an Enceladus orbiter, so I don't think a Saturn orbiter for Enceladus/Titan will win out. Note that Enceladus orbital velocity is low enough that the craft could manage to take lots of hits from ice pellets and survive. Put a bulletproof vest on the craft and let it soar through the plumes endlessly. |
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Jan 27 2009, 03:44 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1281 Joined: 18-December 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 124 |
Joint summary reports posted Jan 19:
http://opfm.jpl.nasa.gov/library/ Titan Saturn System Mission Joint Summary Report (01/16/09) (PDF, 11.67 MB) 11.7MB, Europa Jupiter System Mission Joint Summary Report (01/16/09) (PDF, 9.65 MB) 11.7MB, 39 Pages Apologies if a repost. -------------------- Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!" Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test |
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Jan 27 2009, 10:56 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 63 Joined: 18-November 08 Member No.: 4490 |
Thanks for that. If I really have to choose, my vote goes with TSSM. I would like to see both, but a balloon roving Titan for a year? That has to win - Titan is the low-hanging fruit here. If TSSM flies, I hope, a few years later, they can still find funds for a reduced JGO mission - maybe in collaboration with the possible JAXA JMO mission, and a few donated NASA instruments. But, to me, TSSM is a winner here. I was looking at the PDF (also the earlier OPAG PDF on this mission) and the SEP stage - maybe that could be a mission in it own right? It has its own ion drive, solar panels, and maybe its own hydrazine propellants (jets commonly placed at the tips of the panels) - all it needs is a computer, low gain antennea, and a small camera and its a craft in its own right. With maybe an extra 1kg of electronics its a neat student/uni project for someone. Maybe with a bit more - and usually there is a healthy margin of tolerance on these missions so there might be a few kg of xenon ion-drive propellant left on board - it could make a reasonable big-asteroid flyby mission. The earlier OPAG PDF had the SEP separation quite early on, so retargeting at least seemed possible.. (is even a larger target possible - jovian trojan, or outer satellite flyby??) At least there is a good chance you will still be alive Bless ya. Just leave a fwding email address. We'll post the pix on.. |
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