HR: 0800h
AN: P51C-0940 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: A Follow-On Titan Orbiter Mission Enabled by Advanced Radioisotope Power Systems
AU: * Abelson, R D
EM: robert.d.abelson@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 301-445 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Durden, S
EM: stephen.durden@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 301-445 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Im, E
EM: eastwood.im@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 301-445 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Lorenz, R
EM: rlorenz@lpl.arizona.edu
AF: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory 1629 E. University Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092 United States
AU: Shirley, J H
EM: james.h.shirley@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 301-445 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Spilker, T R
EM: thomas.r.spilker@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 301-445 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AB: The NRC Solar System Exploration Decadal Survey (2003) identified Titan as a high-priority target for future missions to the outer solar system. Cassini observations of Titan have only increased that level of interest. Despite these successes, we recognize that large gaps in our knowledge of Titan will inevitably remain at the end of the Cassini Mission. High resolution mapping will have been performed for only a small fraction of the surface of Titan, and we will have an improved but still limited knowledge of global surface topography. Titan, like the Earth, has a substantial atmosphere dominated by molecular nitrogen, and the similarities and differences of atmospheric processes on the Earth and Titan are of considerable interest. Thus it is likely that the next Orbiter Mission to Titan will carry instruments that address questions of atmospheric dynamics, atmospheric precipitation rates, and the density, thickness, and formation processes of clouds. Our study details a conceptual follow-on Titan Orbiter mission that would provide full global topographic coverage, nearly complete surface imaging at selected NIR wavelengths, and comprehensive meteorological characterization of the atmosphere over a nominal 5-year science mission. The baseline orbiter power requirement is approximately 1 kWe at end-of-mission (EOM) which would be provided by radioisotope power systems (RPSs). This power requirement is driven by a notional high power radar instrument that would provide 3-dimensional measurements of atmospheric clouds, precipitation, and surface topography (note that this strawman radar concept was developed under NASA's High Capability Instrument and Planetary Exploration Program for Prometheus-class missions using NEPP technologies). While this power level is moderately higher than that of the Cassini spacecraft, higher-efficiency advanced radioisotope power systems (RPSs) could potentially reduce the plutonium usage to less than 1/3rd of that used on the Cassini spacecraft. Direct insertion from approach into a 1400 km circular orbit would require a propulsive delta-V of about 5 km/s, exceeding the injected mass capabilities of existing launch vehicles for this spacecraft class. Thus, aerocapture using Titan's atmosphere is used to reduce the delta-V associated with orbit circularization and cleanup to a modest 80 m/s. For the present study we assumed a launch date no earlier than 2015. A 500 kg 'black box' deployed probe, with unspecified science instrumentation, is also included in the system design.
DE: 6200 PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS
DE: 6281 Titan
DE: 6900 RADIO SCIENCE
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005