Topic
Launch window
About: Launch window is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 218 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1199 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: In the first mission to Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft was launched on January 19, 2006, and flew by Jupiter on February 28, 2007, gaining a significant speed boost from Jupiter's gravity assist as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In the first mission to Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft was launched on January 19, 2006, and flew by Jupiter on February 28, 2007, gaining a significant speed boost from Jupiter’s gravity assist. After a 9.5-year journey, the spacecraft will encounter Pluto on July 14, 2015, followed by an extended mission to the Kuiper Belt objects for the first time. The mission design for New Horizons went through more than five years of numerous revisions and updates, as various mission scenarios regarding routes to Pluto and launch opportunities were investigated in order to meet the New Horizons mission’s objectives, requirements, and goals. Great efforts have been made to optimize the mission design under various constraints in each of the key aspects, including launch window, interplanetary trajectory, Jupiter gravity-assist flyby, Pluto–Charon encounter with science measurement requirements, and extended mission to the Kuiper Belt and beyond. Favorable encounter geometry, flyby trajectory, and arrival time for the Pluto–Charon encounter were found in the baseline design to enable all of the desired science measurements for the mission. The New Horizons mission trajectory was designed as a ballistic flight from Earth to Pluto, and all energy and the associated orbit state required for arriving at Pluto at the desired time and encounter geometry were computed and specified in the launch targets. The spacecraft’s flight thus far has been extremely efficient, with the actual trajectory error correction ΔV being much less than the budgeted amount.
72 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an ion thruster is used for solar electric propulsion (SEP) in a sample and return mission to near Earth asteroid Nereus (4660) via an electric propulsion.
43 citations
Patent•
1 Apr 2002
TL;DR: In this paper, a reusable space vehicle docked in an intermediate orbit for rescue missions allows a satellite to be serviced with less delay, energy expenditure, and cost than a space vehicle launched from Earth for each mission.
Abstract: A reusable space vehicle docked in an intermediate orbit for rescue missions allows a satellite to be serviced with less delay, energy expenditure, and cost than a space vehicle launched from Earth for each mission. The reusable repair vehicle can be moved from one orbit to another with minimal energy expense while not having to wait for a launch window. Once a servicing need is identified, a destination orbit is identified for the space vehicle and a minimum energy path is identified. If the time to the next launch window between the docking orbit and the destination orbit happens to be near enough to allow for a timely rendezvous, the space vehicle is moved directly to the destination orbit. The space vehicle can be a vehicle designed to be piloted by humans or telerobotically. In one implementation, the inactive space vehicle is docked in an Intermediate LEO orbit (altitudes of approximately 250 km to approximately 500 km) and is used to rendezvous with objects in High LEO orbits (altitudes of approximately 500 km to approximately 1500 km) or objects in Low LEO orbits (altitudes of approximately 250 km or less). The space vehicle can be a modified lunar lander.
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied how regulation influences both the launch window and the launch price of new products in the international realm and found that regulation does not directly impact launch price.
37 citations
1 Aug 1992
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that transfer trajectories to the halo orbit exist throughout the year, with a one week closure of the launch window each month because of unfavorable lunar perturbations that cannot be corrected in the case of transfer trajectory insertion errors.
Abstract: It is shown that transfer trajectories to the halo orbit exist throughout the year, with a one week closure of the launch window each month because of unfavorable lunar perturbations that cannot be corrected in the case of transfer trajectory insertion errors The launch window for transfers to large-amplitude Lissajous orbits is virtually the same as that for transfers to the baseline halo orbit Details of these trajectories are described and questions about groundstation coverage are discussed
36 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2020 | 7 |
| 2019 | 9 |
| 2018 | 7 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2016 | 7 |