Initial Navigation Analysis for the Europa Multiple Flyby Mission Concept

Abstract

Earth and spacecraft-based observations of the Jovian moon Europa have identified it as the most plausible habitat for extraterrestrial life in our solar system. Recently, NASA has formed a Europa Mission Concept to potentially explore this icy world with a sophisticated instrument suite operating from a spacecraft in orbit about Jupiter. Candidate trajectories have been designed that would use the Jovian moons to repeatedly bring the spacecraft near Europa, providing multiple observation opportunities over the mission duration. This paper describes navigation analyses associated with these trajectories that are being assessed for their operational feasibility. The analysis includes determination of the ΔV requirements for the mission concept and notional spacecraft ephemeris knowledge capability.