Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter interplanetary injection period analysis

摘要

This paper investigates the sensitivity of the planned Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter mission to variations in interplanetary injection date, magnitude, and direction, starting in a low-Earth assembly orbit. These results are used to determine the frequency and number of injection opportunities from a processing assembly obit. It is shown that the use of a low-thrust propulsion system with a nuclear-electric power source would allow the interplanetary trajectory performance to be relatively insensitive to variations in injection conditions. This result yields many injection opportunities due to the long injection period and consecutive orbits with favorable geometry.