Spacecrafts get a boost in 'aerogravity assisted' interactions
New research examines the effect of rotation and other variables in the applications of 'aerogravity assisted' manoeuvres to obtain an energy boost for space craft

Date:
June 18, 2020
Source:
Springer
Summary:
Researchers map the energy variations of the spacecraft orbits
due to 'Aerogravity Assisted' manoeuvers.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In a recent paper published in EPJ Special Topics, Jhonathan O. Murcia Pin~eros, a post-doctoral researcher at Space Electronics Division,
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Sa~o Jose' dos Campos, Brazil,
and his co- authors, map the energy variations of the spacecraft orbits
during 'aerogravity assisted' (AGA) manoeuvres. A technique in which
energy gains are granted to a spacecraft by a close encounter with a
planet or other celestial body via that body's atmosphere and gravity.


==========================================================================
In 2019, Voyager 2 became the second human-made object to leave the
solar system, following its counterpart Voyager 1. The energy to carry
these probes was obtained via interactions with the solar system's giant planets -- an example of a pure gravity assisted manoeuvre.

The topic approached by the paper is one that has been tackled from a
number of different angles before, but the team took the novel approach of considering a passage inside the atmosphere of a planet and the effects
of the spacecraft's rotation as it performs such a manoeuvre. During
the course of simulating over 160,000 AGA manoeuvres around the Earth,
the team adjusted parameters such as masses, sizes and angular momentum,
to see how this would affect the 'drag' on the spacecraft, thus changing
the amount of energy imparted.

The researchers discovered that the larger the values of the area to mass
ratio (A/m -- the inverse of area density) that they employed in their
models the greater the drag was on the probe, and thus, the greater the
energy loss it experienced due to this drag, and the lower its velocity
was as a result, but it may increase the energy gains from gravity,
due to the larger rotation of the velocity of the spacecraft. The
same effect also increased the region in which energy losses occurred
whilst simultaneously reducing the area in which maximum velocity can
be achieved.

Their results indicate that as this is the inverse of area density
and density falls off at greater altitudes, drag can be reduced by a
trajectory that brings a craft in at higher altitudes. This can eventually approach the values of trajectory given by a pure gravity-assisted AGA.

As the Voyager missions show, when performed at maximum efficiency,
AGA manoeuvres have the potential to send humankind beyond the reaches
of our solar system into the wider galaxy.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Springer. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jhonathan O. Murcia Pin~eros, Vivian Martins Gomes, Walter
Abraha~o dos
Santos, Justyna Golebiewska. Effects of the rotation of a
spacecraft in an atmospheric close approach with the Earth. The
European Physical Journal Special Topics, 2020; 229 (8): 1517 DOI:
10.1140/epjst/e2020- 900144-9 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200618110959.htm

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