Project Io Orbiter and Lander

[Piper]

I thought I'd give a little preview of an Io Orbiter and Lander that I've been working on for the past few months. I originally conceived of this project years ago (I think 2003 was the first time I thought of it), long before I had even heard of Orbiter. I've always been fascinated by Io because of how geologically active it is, and its incredibly hostile environment, and have always thought it deserved its own mission.

The mission to Io involves launcher the Orbiter, along with a large booster stage, on top of a Delta-IV Heavy, on a Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity assist profile to Jupiter. Upon obtaining a low-circular orbit around Io, the booster stage detaches from the main probe. A few orbits later, after the orbiter has confirmed the landing site is still safe to land on, the lander detaches and makes a powered descent onto the surface of Io. The discarded booster stage, then de-orbits itself, crashing into the surface of Io, and hopefully provide seismic data for the lander. The orbiter finally adjusts its orbit into a higher inclination (95 degrees), and commences an orbital study of Io.

 

[Istochnikov]

WOW!!! So similar to the NASA's JEO that i've finished and the ESA JGO that i'm developing!!! That's a MASSIVE invation :LOL!: :speakcool:

 

[Piper]

Oh, it definitely is massive. The Delta-IV Heavy has just enough fuel to get it to Venus to set it up for a fly-by. There's not much left to work on, I just have to give the whole mission another complete run-through, and put together a "how-to" page for people to complete this mission since it is rather complex (I think even more-so then my Eris Explorer). To do this mission you need to know how to launch into a proper holding orbit, do multiple flybys, be real good with conserving fuel, perform an orbital insertion, and land on a moon (best done with LandMFD which is what I've tested it with).

Hmmm, maybe I should also make a Callisto probe? lol

 

[Piper]

The Io Orbiter and Io Lander are finished, tested, and I've put up a page on my website about it. I'm going to work on the mission guide and documentation tonight, so hopefully the full think will be released in the next couple of days.

 

[garyw]

Piper, these probe add ons of yours are wonderful, please keep them coming!

 

[Istochnikov]

I just have to give the whole mission another complete run-through, and put together a "how-to" page for people to complete this mission since it is rather complex (I think even more-so then my Eris Explorer).

Say it to me... The JEO follows a similar VEEGA trajectory and it's too hard making all the tour. Aaaaargh!!! it's so hard to me even reaching earth after the Venus encounter!!! :sorry:

To do this mission you need to know how to launch into a proper holding orbit, do multiple flybys, be real good with conserving fuel, perform an orbital insertion, and land on a moon (best done with LandMFD which is what I've tested it with).

... and the jovian moon tour for saving fuel is trickly...

Hmmm, maybe I should also make a Callisto probe? lol

Or maybe we can joint for making a Callisto probe? :LOL!: The JGO from ESA is so bored, so... why don't make a JCGO as an ESA/CSA project?

 

[Missioncmdr]

That looks like a really neat spacecraft. Although I have doubts that I will be able to successfully complete the VEEGA trajectory.

 

[Piper]

... and the jovian moon tour for saving fuel is trickly...

Tell me about it. I was originally going to do that for my Io Orbiter, but swinging around the moons turned out to be a huge pain in the "apsis" since TransX has a difficult time with the Jovian moons (and anything that involves a lot of precession). Instead I decided just to go with the "brute force" method and do a direct orbital insertion.

Perhaps one day when TransX does a better job predicting encounters I'll make a mission that incorporates multiple Jovian moon encounters.

Or maybe we can joint for making a Callisto probe? :LOL!: The JGO from ESA is so bored, so... why don't make a JCGO as an ESA/CSA project?

Hmmm, definitely an interesting idea. Although it will have to be something to do later on. Right now I'm working on my next big project, a Titan Orbiter that uses aerobraking to enter orbit, and has three landers attached:



As for the VEEGA trajectory, one of the future Chapman Challenges I'm going to do (probably the Advanced one for next month) will incorporate a VEEGA trajectory, so I'm going to do up a tutorial on doing them with TransX.