Investigation of Aerocapture Earth-Based Demonstration Options

Aerocapture is an atmospheric maneuver that utilizes aerodynamic forces within a planetary atmosphere to decelerate a spacecraft and achieve orbit insertion. This maneuver reduces the level of propulsive maneuvers needed to achieve the desired capture orbit. Aerocapture is a single pass as opposed to aerobraking where multiple passes are required to target an orbit.

Uranus was selected in 2022 as the top destination for a future Flagship-class mission by the Planetary Decadal Survey. The Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) study, identified as the flagship mission of this decade, proposed a 2031 launch and utilized a fully propulsive orbit insertion design with a transient times ranging from 13 to 15 years. Ref. [2] investigated the impact of using aerocapture for a Uranus mission and demonstrated potential mass savings, increased launch opportunities (launch every 2 years through the 2030’s and 2040’s) including at high arrival velocities, and reduced transient time (2-3 years).

Besides Uranus, aerocapture can be an enabling technology for other scenarios: small satellite orbiter constellations at Mars to support human-scale Mars missions; deceleration of low and mid lift-to-drag entry bodies for human-scale Mars at a lower percentage of propellant mass; small satellite orbiter missions to Venus and Titan; and Earth orbit insertion of cislunar assets in near-Earth exploration.

Since aerocapture has never been demonstrated at any planetary destination, NASA, through the Aerocapture Demonstration Relevance Assessment Team (ADRAT) and other studies, has demonstrated an interest in an Earth demonstration that can answer questions for applying aerocapture at other destinations and buy down risk. This work discusses what a mission like that might look like. Table 1 lists some of the steps achievable by an Earth demonstration mission.