Navigation accuracy analysis for the Halley flyby phase of a dual comet mission using ion drive

A dual comet (Halley Flyby/Tempel 2 Rendezvous) mission, making use of the solar electric propulsion system, is under consideration for a 1985 launch. This paper presents navigation accuracy analysis results for the Halley flyby phase of this mission. Orbit determination and guidance accuracies are presented for the baseline navigation strategy, along with the results of a number of sensitivity studies involving parameters such as data frequencies, data accuracies, ion drive thrust vector errors, comet ephemeris uncertainties, time lags associated with data processing and command sequence generation, probe release time, and navigation coast arc duration.