STUDY ON INTERPLANETARY TRAJECTORIES TOWARDS URANUS AND NEPTUNE

To better understand the origin and evolution of our Solar System, the Ice Giants could represent a coveted destination in future decades. In this work, possible interplanetary trajectories towards Uranus and Neptune have been investigated in the 2025-2100 time-frame to provide a preliminary idea of fuel consumption in terms of v related to different mission durations and to pinpoint convenient launch opportunities during the century. The study is developed using the ESA’s Advanced Concept Team open-source libraries PyKEP and PyGMO, analyzing and comparing two different Multiple Gravity-Assist (MGA) trajectory schemes. The first one involves a Deep-Space Maneuver per leg (MGA-1DSM) and the other one exploits just a Flyby Pericenter Maneuver (Powered-MGA or PMGA). The research considers only trajectories with Gas Giants gravity-assist maneuvers. The results show, for the same time of flight, more expensive trajectories in terms of Delta-V for the MGA-1DSM with respect to PMGA. Therefore, the latters are further analyzed varying the time of flight. Feasible trajectories and launch opportunities towards Uranus and Neptune are obtained with a total Delta-V of about 2 km/s and 3 km/s, respectively. Finally, close launch opportunities for both Uranus and Neptune are respectively investigated in 2035 and in 2033.