Mission Description

• Earth Departure Conditions:
  • November 30, 1997 (optimized)
  • Launch Vehicle: Medlite (launch vehicle model 38)
  • Launch vehicle adapter mass (kadp) as a fraction of initial mass is 0.05
  • Launch vehicle contingency is 0.1, launch vehicle capability is reduced by this fraction
  • V infinity = 2.796 km/s (optimized)
  • Or use initial mass of 415 kg and Vinf above
• Propulsion & Power System Mass is 245 kg + 12 kg/kW
• Solar array model is “apsa1”
• Power at 1 AU 3.375 kW
• Tankage Fraction kt is 0.15, fraction of propellant mass
• scp=0.05  (Still trying to define this variable)
• Thruster Model NSTAR LeRC Engine G
  • ct=-.0019137d0,.036242d0,0.d0,
  • cm=.47556d-6,.90209d-6,0.d0,
  • Minimum thruster input power 0.5 kW
• Maximum thruster input power is 2.6 kW
• Flight time to Earth gravity assist is 776.3 days (optimized)
• Flight time to Pluto flyby is 12 years
• Originally modeled using SEPTOP

Thruster modeling

Mass flow rate [kg/s]:  mdot = [cm(1)+cm(2)pt+cm(3)pt2+ cm(4)pt3+ cm(5)pt4]*cf
Thrust [N]:  thrust = [ct(1)+ct(2)pt+ct(3)pt2+ ct(4)pt3+ ct(5)pt4]*cf
pmin £ pt £ pmax
where pt is the power per thruster [kW]

 

Additional Mission Options

A.  SEEGA – Pluto Flyby

• Launch from Earth in 1999-2000 (otherwise free)
• Flyby Pluto 10 years after launch
• Earth flyby date free
• V-infinity magnitude and direction are free
• Launch Vehicle: Delta 7925-9.5; 10% launch vehicle contingency
• Propulsion Model:  Electric Engine G (1 or 2 Engines)
• Power Model: apsa1 solar array, P0 = 5.0 kW, Psc = 0
• Objective function:  final mass
• Originally modeled using SEPTOP

Input/Output files

Copernicus20060318.zip (download)

SEPTOPv11.67.zip (download)

All Reference Case 27: Pluto – Kuiper Belt Explorer Files (download zip)