Orbit Determination Methods for Space Missions and Applications to the Exploration of the Solar System
A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Astronautics & Space Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 4656
Special Issue Editors
Interests: space missions; radio science; astronomy; celestial mechanics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Space missions are an extraordinary opportunity to collect data in proximity to celestial bodies, whether large, such as planets and satellites, or small, such as asteroids and comets. The payload of a mission includes different instruments and experiments, with which it is possible to investigate many features of target celestial bodies.
Among these, radio science experiments make use of the radio link with Earth to perform very precise orbit determination of the spacecraft. Often, the standard onboard radio subsystem is augmented by dedicated instrumentation, such as Ultra Stable Oscillators or Ka-band transponders, or different types of data, such as accelerometers, laser altimeters, or pictures taken by optical cameras. In this framework, space missions’ data have been proved crucial to study the gravity, rotation, and atmosphere of celestial bodies. Moreover, they are routinely used to improve ephemerides, also allowing to measure small dynamical effects that affect the long-term evolution of celestial bodies. In order to obtain these fundamental results for a full understanding of the solar system, space missions are preceded by a development phase for determining scientific objectives and resolving engineering challenges. In this context, preliminary simulations and covariance analyses are essential to investigate new mission concepts and to assess the performances of future missions.
This Special Issue aims to cover innovative technologies, methods, and applications of precise orbit determination using space mission data. Relevant topics include but are not limited to:
- New orbit determination strategies;
- Software products for precise orbit determination;
- Development of dedicated hardware and instrumentation;
- Estimation of the gravity field of planets and small bodies;
- Estimation of the rotation and precession of celestial bodies;
- Detection of dynamical effects affecting the orbital evolution of celestial bodies;
- Test of the General Relativity theory;
- Use of nanosatellites for in situ observations;
- Synergic use of different onboard instruments;
- New mission concepts for solar system exploration.
Dr. Giacomo Lari
Dr. Marco Zannoni
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- orbit determination
- radio science
- spacecraft data
- small satellites
- planetary science
- satellite geodesy
- ephemerides
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Radio science experiments during a cruise phase to Uranus
Authors: Ivan Di Stefano; Daniele Durante; Paolo Cappuccio; Paolo Racioppa
Affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering, Sapienza University of Rome
Abstract: The exploration of Uranus, a key archetype for ice giant planets and a gateway to understanding distant exoplanets, is acquiring increasing interest in recent years, especially after the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission has been prioritized in the Planetary Science Decadal Survey 2023-2032. This paper presents the results of numerical simulations aimed at providing experimental constraints on the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameter γ, a measure of space-time curvature in General Relativity (GR), during the cruise phase of a spacecraft travelling to Uranus. Leveraging advanced radio tracking systems akin to those aboard JUICE and BepiColombo missions, we explore the potential of solar conjunction experiments (SCEs) to refine current measurements of γ by exploiting the long spacecraft's journey in the outer Solar System. We discuss the anticipated enhancements over previous estimates, underscoring the prospect of detecting violations of GR. Our simulations predict a potential improvement in the estimation of γ up to more than an order of magnitude with respect to the latest measurement performed by the Cassini-Huygens mission in 2002, contingent on the calibration capabilities against solar plasma noise. The results reveal that a number of SCEs during the mission can substantially strengthen the validation of GR. In tandem with fundamental physics tests, the use of radio links during SCEs presents a valuable opportunity to dissect the solar corona's plasma dynamics, contributing to solar physics and space weather forecasting. This paper also enumerates methodologies to analyze electron density, localize plasma features, and deduce solar wind velocity, enriching the scientific yield of the experiments beyond the primary objective of testing GR during the cruise phase of a mission to Uranus.