Author Topic: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree  (Read 15629 times)

Offline Blackstar

  • Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15286
  • Liked: 7822
  • Likes Given: 2
Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« on: 08/28/2011 04:11 am »
I was digging around in the AIAA website:

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=413

I typed in "solar probe" got about 200 entries. I'm interested in a bunch from the first 50-60 papers that come up in the search. I'll need to see if I can find these in a library somewhere, because AIAA is expensive, especially for non-members.


Why a Solar Probe
Marco Velli Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, UNITED STATES; D. McComas Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, UNITED STATES; W. Lewis Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, UNITED STATES
AIAA-2005-6823
Space 2005, Long Beach, California, Aug. 30-1, 2005
       
Current Mission Design of the Solar Probe Mission
IAC-03-Q.2.05
54th International Astronautical Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the International Institute of Space Law, Bremen, Germany, Sep. 29-3, 2003

NASA and international studies of the Solar Probe Mission

RANDOLPH, JAMES E., JPL, Pasadena, CA
AIAA-1992-857
Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, 30th, Reno, NV, Jan 6-9, 1992. 9 p.

Solar Probe - System concepts and requirements

GRONROOS, H. G., JPL, Pasadena, CA; HOLLERT, D. A., JPL, Pasadena, CA
AIAA-1992-861
Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, 30th, Reno, NV, Jan 6-9, 1992. 13 p.

Preliminary design of the thermal protection system for solar probe

DIRLING, R. B., JR., Science Applications, Inc., Irvine, CA; LOOMIS, W. C., Science Applications, Inc., Irvine, CA; HEIGHTLAND, C. N., Science Applications, Inc., Irvine, CA
AIAA-1982-897
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Joint Thermophysics, Fluids, Plasma and Heat Transfer Conference, 3rd, St. Louis, MO, June 7-11, 1982, AIAA 20 p.

The Solar Probe mission - Mission design concepts and requirements

AYON, JUAN A., JPL, Pasadena, CA
AIAA-1992-860
Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, 30th, Reno, NV, Jan 6-9, 1992. 19 p.
       
Small Solar Probe - Feasibility studies
AIAA-1995-619
Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, 33rd, Reno, NV, Jan 9-12, 1995

MISSION OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR A SCIENTIFIC SOLAR PROBE
DE MORAES, CARLOS A., SPACE EXPLORATION GROUP, MARTIN COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MD; GAGE, DANIEL D., MARTIN COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MD
AIAA-1965-1440
Unmanned Spacecraft Meeting 1965

Small Solar Probe

Preble, J. C., Rockwell International Corp., Space Systems Div., Downey, CA; Tribble, A. C., Rockwell International Corp., Space Systems Div., Downey, CA
JOURNAL OF SPACECRAFT AND ROCKETS 1996
0022-4650 vol.33 no.5 (729-733)
doi: 10.2514/3.26827

A close-approach solar probe design feasibility and mission study
AVERELL, J., AVCO CORP., RESEARCH AND ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT DIV., WILMINGTON, MASS.; HOYER, S., ; LUNDHOLM, J. G., JR., ; PROHASKA, E. S.,
JOURNAL OF SPACECRAFT AND ROCKETS 1965
0022-4650 vol.2 no.4 (550-557)
doi: 10.2514/3.28227

A close-approach solar probe design feasibility and mission study.
AVERELL, J., AVCO CORP., RESEARCH AND ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT DIV., WILMINGTON, MASS.
AIAA-1964-496
AMERICAN INST OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS, ANNUAL MEETING, 1ST, WASHINGTON, D.C., Jun 29-Jul 2, 1964, PAPER 64-496.;JOURNAL OF SPACECRAFT AND ROCKETS

Advanced solar space missions
BOHLIN, J. D., NASA, Solar Terrestrial Div., Washington, D.C.
AIAA-1979-50
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Aerospace Sciences Meeting, 17th, New Orleans, La., Jan 15-17, 1979, 12 p.

A 3-kw solar-electric spacecraft for multiple interplanetary missions.
HUNTER, H. M. /TRW SYSTEMS GROUP, SPACE VEHICLES DIV., REDONDO BEACH, CALIF./., ; MEISSINGER, H. F., ; PARK, R. A.,
JOURNAL OF SPACECRAFT AND ROCKETS 1968
0022-4650 vol.5 no.6 (678-685)
doi: 10.2514/3.29330

Applications of snap-50 class powerplants to selected unmanned electric propulsion missions
EDELBAUM, T. N., UNITED AIRCRAFT CORP., RESEARCH LABS., EAST HARTFORD, CONN.; FIMPLE, W. R.,
JOURNAL OF SPACECRAFT AND ROCKETS 1965
0022-4650 vol.2 no.5 (669-676)
doi: 10.2514/3.28261


What you can see from the dates there is that Solar Probe has been around as an idea for a long time.

I'm going to attach a number of Solar Probe documents to this thread.

Offline Blackstar

  • Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15286
  • Liked: 7822
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #1 on: 08/28/2011 04:12 am »
Here is a 1964 study on Solar Probe.

Offline Blackstar

  • Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15286
  • Liked: 7822
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #2 on: 08/28/2011 04:13 am »
Here is a 2008 presentation, primarily on what was then called "Solar Probe 2."

Offline Blackstar

  • Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15286
  • Liked: 7822
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #3 on: 08/28/2011 04:17 am »
Here is the Solar Probe Plus mission as originally conceived a few years ago.

Offline Blackstar

  • Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15286
  • Liked: 7822
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #4 on: 08/28/2011 04:21 am »
Here are some images of the current configuration of Solar Probe Plus.

Offline Proponent

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7277
  • Liked: 2782
  • Likes Given: 1462
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #5 on: 11/16/2011 03:49 am »
Here's a 1972 translation of a 1966 German study of a solar probe.

Offline Star One

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13997
  • UK
  • Liked: 3974
  • Likes Given: 220
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #6 on: 09/29/2013 08:15 pm »
Can I ask why this needs such a powerful launcher, according to the link below it's going to use the 551 configuration of the Atlas V.

http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/mission/status.php

Offline Silmfeanor

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1254
  • Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 403
  • Likes Given: 722
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #7 on: 09/29/2013 08:16 pm »
Can I ask why this needs such a powerful launcher, according to the link below it's going to use the 551 configuration of the Atlas V.

http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/mission/status.php
The orbit requires it - to get close to the sun, you need to remove as much of the 30 km/s the earth moves. So, big launcher, light payload.

Offline Star One

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13997
  • UK
  • Liked: 3974
  • Likes Given: 220
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #8 on: 09/30/2013 07:08 am »

Can I ask why this needs such a powerful launcher, according to the link below it's going to use the 551 configuration of the Atlas V.

http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/mission/status.php
The orbit requires it - to get close to the sun, you need to remove as much of the 30 km/s the earth moves. So, big launcher, light payload.

How many Venus gravity assists is going to need to achieve the required orbit?

Offline GClark

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 377
  • Liked: 55
  • Likes Given: 5
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #9 on: 09/30/2013 10:46 am »
Seven.

Offline Star One

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13997
  • UK
  • Liked: 3974
  • Likes Given: 220
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #10 on: 09/30/2013 11:18 am »

Seven.

Thanks. I believe at one point they were talking about using a Jupiter gravity assist but changed that to Venus.

Offline Blackstar

  • Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15286
  • Liked: 7822
  • Likes Given: 2
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #11 on: 09/30/2013 03:39 pm »

Seven.

Thanks. I believe at one point they were talking about using a Jupiter gravity assist but changed that to Venus.

The mission design has gone through a lot of iterations. I honestly don't know much about it now, but the last impression I got was that people working on it and overseeing it are pretty happy with the overall approach that they have now.

A bit of explanation:

Earlier concepts of Solar Probe had the spacecraft going in much closer to the sun, but for only a few passes (two, I think). That mission concept was not affordable. The current iteration has it going not nearly as close, but for many more times. Normally, you would expect people to grouch a lot and say that in order to do the science they want to do, they really need the closer approach and this is a lame substitute. But from what I heard a few years ago, once they started looking closer at the original proposal and the compromise, they realized that the original proposal was probably not doable even at the higher cost--apparently one of the issues was that the approach would be so rapid that they might not be able to shove the data out fast enough, meaning that they would not have gotten a lot of good data. The compromise, that provides a lot more passes, apparently has some hidden advantages that they did not expect.

If you look at the more recent spacecraft designs you can see some really clever solutions to problems of heating and power. I particularly like how they curled the solar panels at the edges. I don't know if they have preserved that design, but it was rather inspired.

Offline deltaV

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2159
  • Change in velocity
  • Liked: 619
  • Likes Given: 2127
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #12 on: 04/26/2014 07:55 am »
NASA is beginning the process of procuring a launch vehicle for solar probe plus: https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=3060e9441252d36ffceae289a1fef314&tab=core&_cview=0 . The mass is 685 kg and the C3 is 154 km^2/s^2. I believe this is beyond what Falcon 9 can handle, even with a kick stage. The solicitation requires "at least one successful flight of the common launch vehicle configuration...prior to the proposal due date, which is anticipated to be September 2014," and Falcon Heavy isn't expected to launch until 2015, so it looks like SpaceX will not be eligible to bid. Presumably an Atlas will win.

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37440
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21450
  • Likes Given: 428
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #13 on: 04/26/2014 12:51 pm »
NASA is beginning the process of procuring a launch vehicle for solar probe plus: https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=3060e9441252d36ffceae289a1fef314&tab=core&_cview=0 . The mass is 685 kg and the C3 is 154 km^2/s^2. I believe this is beyond what Falcon 9 can handle, even with a kick stage. The solicitation requires "at least one successful flight of the common launch vehicle configuration...prior to the proposal due date, which is anticipated to be September 2014," and Falcon Heavy isn't expected to launch until 2015, so it looks like SpaceX will not be eligible to bid. Presumably an Atlas will win.

It wouldn't be an Atlas because such a solicitation is not needed to buy an Atlas. Atlas is already on the NLS II contract.

Offline ugordan

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8520
    • My mainly Cassini image gallery
  • Liked: 3543
  • Likes Given: 759
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #14 on: 04/26/2014 12:56 pm »
It wouldn't be an Atlas because such a solicitation is not needed to buy an Atlas. Atlas is already on the NLS II contract.

So a Delta IV Heavy?

Offline GClark

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 377
  • Liked: 55
  • Likes Given: 5
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #15 on: 04/27/2014 07:01 am »
IMNSHO this represents Due Diligence.

This mission has been baselined for an Atlas V 551 w/Star 48BV since the 2008 redesign.  NASA is doing this solicitation so they can show anyone who may happen to question their launcher selection "See, we asked."

Just my (admittedly somewhat sarcastic) .02...

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37440
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21450
  • Likes Given: 428
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #16 on: 04/27/2014 01:51 pm »
IMNSHO this represents Due Diligence.

This mission has been baselined for an Atlas V 551 w/Star 48BV since the 2008 redesign.  NASA is doing this solicitation so they can show anyone who may happen to question their launcher selection "See, we asked."

Just my (admittedly somewhat sarcastic) .02...


Not required, if that were the case.  NASA doesn't have do such a thing if a launch vehicle on the NLS II meets the requirements.

Offline simonbp

  • Science Guy
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7138
  • Liked: 314
  • Likes Given: 183
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #17 on: 04/27/2014 02:45 pm »
There is engineering required and legally required. This falls into the later.

Offline GClark

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 377
  • Liked: 55
  • Likes Given: 5
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #18 on: 04/27/2014 05:05 pm »
Not required, if that were the case.  NASA doesn't have do such a thing if a launch vehicle on the NLS II meets the requirements.

I will defer to your greater knowledge (I did say I was being sarcastic...).

Having adjusted the creases on my tinfoil hat, it could be that NASA is anticipating non-availability of the Atlas V & is preemptively looking for a potential replacement launcher (Falcon Heavy, Ariane V, what have you...).

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37440
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21450
  • Likes Given: 428
Re: Solar Probe, a mission with a long pedigree
« Reply #19 on: 04/28/2014 12:13 am »
There is engineering required and legally required. This falls into the later.

It is not legally required if Atlas were to be used

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
1