Interplanetary Mission Analysis and Design (Springer Praxis Books / Astronautical Engineering) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)There are a number of calculations done for almost every fathomable interplanetary transfer IF you are using chemical rockets and impulsive transfer. IF you are using constant acceleration via electric propulsion or a nuclear thermal rocket, you are out of luck. Let me summarize the author's treatment of (p80-86) electric v. chemical propellants: one goes fast quickly, the other takes a long time to build up speed. But in the context of the book, there really is nothing at all here to help you because the transfer orbits are different! Since this work is so recent and there is quite a bit of research going into the field of constant thrust orbital transfer, this book is severely deficient.

See if you can borrow a copy through interlibrary loan before wasting $150 on this book.

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Product Description:

The book describes current mission analysis and design techniques that may be applied to a very wide range of interplanetary missions from those targeting the inner planets to those destined for the outer planets and Solar System escape trajectories. The early chapters comprise an introduction and a description of the fundamentals of interplanetary missions, aspects of leaving Earth and planet orbit selection and insertion. A discussion of various propulsion systems for interplanetary transfer is followed by a detailed overview of transfer techniques, including the principles of gravity assist and a range of applications of this technique, low-thrust transfers in combination with gravity assist and for planetary escape and capture and the utilisation of multi-body gravity perturbations. The final chapter deals with various optimisation methods for interplanetary missions.The dynamics of the problems are analysed and algorithms that may be used to solve the problems are presented. Practical difficulties that may be encountered are also discussed. The mission design options are considered in the context of spacecraft types, ranging from high thrust, nuclear thermal rockets to low thrust ion propulsion systems. A series of specific examples are described in detail in the appendices, covering 'end-to-end' mission design for some topical space mission scenarios. Finally, a CD is included providing helpful examples of interplanetary transfers in an STK compatible format and an animated trajectory visualisation tool.

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