摘要
In the 6th edition of the Chinese Space Trajectory Design Competition held in 2014, a near-Earth asteroid sample-return trajectory design problem was released, in which the motion of the spacecraft is modeled in multi-body dynamics, considering the gravitational forces of the Sun,Earth, and Moon. It is proposed that an electric-propulsion spacecraft initially parking in a circular 200-km-altitude low Earth orbit is expected to rendezvous with an asteroid and carry as much sample as possible back to the Earth in a10-year time frame. The team from the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences has reported a solution with an asteroid sample mass of 328 tons, which is ranked first in the competition.In this article, we will present our design and optimization methods, primarily including overall analysis, target selection, escape from and capture by the Earth–Moon system,and optimization of impulsive and low-thrust trajectories that are modeled in multi-body dynamics. The orbital resonance concept and lunar gravity assists are considered key techniques employed for trajectory design. The reported solution, preliminarily revealing the feasibility of returning a hundreds-of-tons asteroid or asteroid sample, envisions future space missions relating to near-Earth asteroid exploration.
In the 6th edition of the Chinese Space Trajectory Design Competition held in 2014, a near-Earth asteroid sample-return trajectory design problem was released, in which the motion of the spacecraft is modeled in multi-body dynamics, considering the gravitational forces of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. It is proposed that an electric-propulsion spacecraft initially parking in a circular 200-kin-altitude low Earth orbit is expected to rendezvous with an asteroid and carry as much sample as possible back to the Earth in a 10-year time frame. The team from the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences has reported a solution with an asteroid sample mass of 328 tons, which is ranked first in the competition. In this article, we will present our design and optimization methods, primarily including overall analysis, target selection, escape from and capture by the Earth-Moon system, and optimization of impulsive and low-thrust trajectories that are modeled in multi-body dynamics. The orbital resonance concept and lunar gravity assists are considered key techniques employed for trajectory design. The reported solution, preliminarily revealing the feasibility of returning a hundreds-of-tons asteroid or asteroid sample, envisions future space missions relating to near-Earth asteroid exploration.
基金
supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant11372311)
the grant from the State key Laboratory of Astronautic Dynamics(2014-ADL-DW0201)
关键词
低地球轨道
小行星探测
优化设计
返回轨道
样品
月球
系统
太阳
Near-Earth asteroid. Sample-return trajectory.Space trajectory design competition
Orbital resonance
Lunar gravity assist
