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Wild2 approach maneuver strategy used for Stardust spacecraft (extended abstract)Stardust, NASA's first dedicated sample return mission to a comet, successfully flew through the comet dust around Wold2 on January 2, 2004. The spacecraft flew within 236 km of the comet, meeting the mission requirement of 250+/- 50 km on flyby distance. Stardust collected dust particles and took several images of the comet while flying close to Wild2. The spacecraft will return to earth with the comet samples on January 15, 2006. To accomplish the above objective, a large Deep Space Maneuver (DSM#) was implemented during June 17 and 18, 2003 and a series of Trajectory Correction Maneuvers (TCMs) were also implemented during the 30 days prior to encounter. Both maneuver design and executions were influenced by number of factors including the small body ephemeris uncertainty, predictability of small forces arising from 3-axis attitude limit cycling and spacecraft slews. Maneuver design processes, including contingency plans, and maneuver performance characteristics, are discussed in this paper.
Document ID
20060043767
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Bhar, Ramachandra S.
Williams, Kenneth E.
Helfrich, Clifford E.
Kennedy, Brian M.
Carranza, Eric
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
August 15, 2004
Subject Category
Astrodynamics
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference
Location: Providence, RI
Country: United States
Start Date: August 15, 2004
End Date: August 19, 2004
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
dust
dust particles
samples

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