Small satellite missions to Long-Period Comets: The Hale-Bopp opportunity

Long-Period Comets are possibly the best preserved primitive bodies of the Solar System because of the limited number, if not any, of passages close to the Sun, thus minimizing the consequences following the onset of cometary activity. The unpredictability of their appearance and the short time spen...

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Veröffentlicht in:Acta astronautica 1996-07, Vol.39 (1-4), p.45-50
Hauptverfasser: Perozzi, Ettore, Rondinelli, Giuseppe, Di Genova, Glauco, Fittich, Eduard M., Valsecchi, Giovanni B.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Long-Period Comets are possibly the best preserved primitive bodies of the Solar System because of the limited number, if not any, of passages close to the Sun, thus minimizing the consequences following the onset of cometary activity. The unpredictability of their appearance and the short time spent inside the inner planetary region impose heavy constraints (e.g. limited time from comet discovery to launch) when trying to plan a space mission toward a long-period comet. The reduced cost and overall complexity introduced by studying small satellite missions allowed to draw realistic scenarios. The appearance of comet Hale-Bopp in July 1995 is therefore used to investigate in a real case the feasibility of the proposed LOCO (Long Period Comet Observer) mission. It is found that if all preliminary studies are already carried out at the time of comet appearance, a sufficient timespan is left to prepare and launch a small spacecraft to encounter Hale-Bopp at the descending node of its orbit. A preliminary spacecraft design is presented, some general considerations on the problem of having to wait for a long-period comet to appear are discussed and alternative scenarios are proposed.
ISSN:0094-5765
1879-2030
DOI:10.1016/S0094-5765(96)00121-X