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Astrodynamics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Astrodynamics

Analysis Of An Inflatable Gossamer Device To Efficiently De-Orbit Cubesats, Robert A. Hawkins Jr. Dec 2013

Analysis Of An Inflatable Gossamer Device To Efficiently De-Orbit Cubesats, Robert A. Hawkins Jr.

Master's Theses

There is an increased need for spacecraft to quickly and efficiently de-orbit themselves as the amount of debris in orbit around Earth grows. Defunct spacecraft pose a significant threat to the LEO environment due to their risk of fragmentation. If these spacecraft are de-orbited at the end of their useful life their risk to future spacecraft is greatly lessened. A proposed method of efficiently de-orbiting spacecraft is to use an inflatable thin-film envelope to increase the body's area to mass ratio and thusly shortening its orbital lifetime. The system and analysis presented in this project is sized for use on …


Design Of Economical Upper Stage Hybrid Rocket Engine, Christopher R. Potter May 2013

Design Of Economical Upper Stage Hybrid Rocket Engine, Christopher R. Potter

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Small Satellites With Micro-Propulsion For Communications With The Lunar South Pole Aitkens Basin, Samudra E. Haque, Jeremy Straub, David Whalen Mar 2013

Small Satellites With Micro-Propulsion For Communications With The Lunar South Pole Aitkens Basin, Samudra E. Haque, Jeremy Straub, David Whalen

Jeremy Straub

A lunar sample return mission to the Lunar South-Pole Aitkens Basin (LSPAB) has been highlighted as a high priority objective of the most recent (2011) Decadal Survey for Planetary Science, by the National Research Council. This class of mission, however, faces a dramatic communications limitation, due to the lack of a frequent, or continuous, line-of-sight communications path to Earthbased ground stations. Brunner and others have proposed a communications system utilizing Low Lunar Polar Orbits (LLPO) and Lunar Halo orbits for this purpose. Ely and others have outlined proposals for using several communication satellites to form a relay network using LLPO, …