Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Nilsen, E. N..
This paper details the objectives of the mission, the key constraints that influenced the mission design, and the flight and ground system implementation. Issues that influenced the mission architecture are discussed, as well as the technology assumptions.
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Cometary nuclei are the most primitive bodies in the solar system, containing a cosmo-chemical record of the primordial solar nebula. Flyby missions to comets, such as those that encountered Comet Halley in 1986, provide a glimpse at this record. However, to study a cometary nucleus in detail requires a rendezvous mission, i.e., a nucleus orbiter. Only an orbiter provides the ability to map the entire nucleus surface at high resolution, to study the complex chemistry in the cometary coma and its variation with time, and to determine the mass and bulk density of the nucleus, key parameters in understanding how small bodies first formed in the solar nebula. A nucleus orbiter also provides the opportunity to sense the nucleus surface in preparation for more ambitious landing and sample return missions in the future. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
This paper presents the current status of ongoing studies of future ESS mission concepts and the design assumptions and capabilities required from ARPS technologies.