Cassini Maneuver Experience for the Fourth Year of the Solstice Mission

摘要

After sixteen years of successful mission operations and invaluable scientific discoveries, the Cassini orbiter continues to tour Saturn on the most complex gravity-assist trajectory ever flown. To ensure that the end-of-mission target of September 2017 is achieved, preserving propellant by maintaining the prescribed trajectory via correction maneuvers is highly prioritized over minimizing maneuver cycles. Thus, the maneuver decision process, which includes determining whether a maneuver is performed or canceled, designing a targeting strategy, and selecting an engine for execution is being continuously re-evaluated. This paper highlights the 27 maneuvers targeted to nine Titan flybys planned throughout the fourth year of the Solstice Mission.