Mission Description

• Earth departure orbit is circular at an altitude of 1,000km
  • Spiral escape to C3=0
  • Depart from Earth sphere of influence (SOI) on Julian date 2457023.5 (Jan  1, 2015) – fixed at optimal
  • Arrive at Pluto SOI on Julian date 2461406.5 (Jan  1, 2027) -- fixed
  • Spiral descent to circular Pluto parking orbit at an altitude of 18,405 km (~ Charon altitude)
  • Initial mass:  15,347.0 kg (fixed)
  • Propulsion and power system mass (alpha) = 50 kg/kW
  • Tankage fraction = 0.1,  (Tank mass/propellant mass)
  • Propulsion Model:  simple electric engine,
    • Isp 6100 sec, (optimal +/- 100sec)
    • 0.65 efficiency
  • Power Model: constant power (nuclear), optimized to 84.05 kW
  • Objective function:  final mass
  • Originally modeled using CHEBYTOP

  Input/Output files

  CHEBYTOPv6.zip (download)

  MALTO4_3_3.zip (download)

  Mystic9_0_0.zip (download)

  All Reference Case 21: 12-years to Pluto/Charon Orbiter Files (download zip)