1. Imaging on ballistic missions to comet Encke
- Author
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T. E. Thorpe, R. O. Hughes, D. Bender, B. R. Markiewicz, and L. D. Jaffe
- Subjects
Physics ,Spacecraft ,business.industry ,Comet ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Spin axis ,Photometer ,law.invention ,Velocity vector ,law ,Physics::Space Physics ,Trajectory analysis ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,business ,Remote sensing - Abstract
Imaging for navigation and science has been studied for a 1980 Encke flyby at 0.4 to 0.8 AU from the sun with spinning and three-axis spacecraft. Trajectory errors, maneuvers, encounter geometry, imaging performance, and data transmission were considered. Onboard comet sightings are needed for navigation. Recommended for a three-axis spacecraft are two vidicon cameras and a nucleus sensor for closed-loop pointing control. The cameras are essentially the Mariner 9 and Mariner 10 instruments; the nucleus sensor is an updated version of a sensor flown on Mariners 6 and 7. For a spinning spacecraft, a framing camera using a charge-coupled device and a spin-scan photometer are proposed. The framing camera would be a new design; it would not be despun, but the spin axis should point along the comet-centered velocity vector. The photometer is essentially that flown on Pioneer 10 and 11.
- Published
- 1975
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