Mission Design And Integrated Guidance And Navigation Strategy For Neo Flyby Using 'Interceptor'

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is currently planning the missions that the small probe 'interceptor' flybys near Earth objects. Interceptor is very small probe. An interceptor observes spectrum, takes close images, and determines mass of an NEO (near earth object) during a flyby. The weight of interceptor is less than 10kg. This paper shows three types of missions. In general, it is impossible to determine the relative orbit during flyby only with optical information. Thus, the optical navigation needs to be combined with the radio navigation that should provide the relative velocity vector information. In this paper, the integrated guidance and navigation strategy of interceptor is proposed. The interceptor needs the thruster for the attitude and orbit control. This paper introduces the development of the gas-thrust equilibrium thruster for small satellites. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.