Orbit determination support for Hiten's aerobraking in the Earth's atmosphereTwo passes of the ISAS (Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science) Hiten spacecraft through the Earth's atmosphere, at perigee altitudes of 125 km and 120 km, during Mar. 1991 marked the first aerobraking technology demonstrations for an object in cis-lunar orbit traveling at near Earth escape velocity. Prediction and control of perigee altitude to better than 1 km was desired to assure spacecraft survival. Covariance analysis provided confidence that prediction accuracy better than 200 m for support of final trim maneuver design was achievable with NASA DSN (Deep Space Network) tracking support. ISAS used orbit determination results in their decisions to cancel final trim maneuvers. Post flight reconstructions, marking the first combined use of DSN and ISAS tracking data, yielded perigee altitude solutions which agree with the near real time mission operations support predictions to better than 50 m.
Document ID
19920015496
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Efron, L. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Ellis, J. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Menon, P. R. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Tucker, B. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)