Quarantine constraints as applied to satellites.

Abstract

Plans for unmanned missions to planets beyond Mars in the 1970s include satellite encounters. Recently published observations of data for Titan, a satellite of Saturn, indicate that conditions may be hospitable for the growth of microorganisms. Therefore, the problem of satisfying possible quarantine constraints for outer planet satellites was investigated. This involved determining the probability of impacting a satellite of Jupiter or Saturn by a spacecraft for a planned satellite encounter during an outer planet mission. Mathematical procedures were formulated which (1) determine the areas in the aim-plane that would result in trajectories that impact the satellite and (2) provide a technique for numerically integrating the navigation error function over the impact area to obtain impact probabilities. The results indicate which of the planned spacecraft trajectory correction maneuvers are most critical in terms of satellite quarantine violation.