Comparison of Earth SmallSat Aerocapture Demonstration Trajectory Opportunities

Aerocapture is a promising orbital insertion maneuver concept with the goal of reducing the orbital energy of a spacecraft from an inbound hyperbolic approach to an enclosed orbit with a single atmospheric pass. While not yet flight-proven, past studies have also demonstrated that aerocapture can be an enabling technology for missions such as the Uranus Orbiter and Probe concept. In addition, a recent Aerocapture Demonstration Relevance Assessment Team report recommended an Earth aerocapture demonstration mission as a means of buying down the perceived risks associated with the technology. In response to this report, this paper presents the initial development of an Earth aerocapture technology demonstration mission concept called Aerocapture to Reliably Reduce Inertial Velocity with Aerodynamics and Lift (ARRIVAL). Multiple trajectory options are considered, including secondary SmallSat payload return from a geostationary orbit and two different Lunar return trajectories. Monte Carlo methods are used to assess the performance of each configuration, showing agreeable performance for all scenarios. No surface impacts are reported and apoapsis error 99%-tile values are all less than ± 10% of the desired apoapsis target, suggesting that the ARRIVAL vehicle design can feasibly demonstrate aerocapture and reduce the perceived risks associated with the maneuver.