Fueled by the search for extraterrestrial life, Mars has been the most frequently visited planet
in the solar system. No less than fourteen attempts have been made to land on the surface of …

A quantitative and comparative assessment of the feasibility and mass benefit of using
aerocapture at all atmosphere-bearing solar system destinations is presented, considering …

PLANETARY exploration presents challenges in developing entry technologies, including
characterization of the flight aerothermal environments. Although most of the work in entry …

Large navigation and atmospheric uncertainties have historically driven the need for a mid-
lift-to-drag-ratio (mid-L/D) vehicle with (L/D) max of 0.6–0.8 for aerocapture at Neptune. Most …

Aerocapture technology provides a far-reaching capability for missions at destinations
across the solar system, from SmallSat to Flagship class. It will enable a new class of …

The 2022 Planetary Science Decadal Survey released by the National Academies of
Science identified the exploration of the Ice Giants, particularly Uranus, as the primary next …

Investigation of Uranus and Neptune, via orbiter and atmospheric probes, is required to
answer pressing science questions that have been raised in previous Decadal Surveys. As …

Aerocapture offers a near propellantless and quick method of orbit insertion at atmosphere
bearing planetary destinations. Compared to conventional propulsive insertion, the primary …

The application of directed energy to spacecraft mission design is explored using rapid
transit to Mars as the design objective. An Earth-based laser array of unprecedented size …

The problem of optimizing affine feedback laws that explicitly steer the mean and covariance
of an uncertain system state in the presence of a Gaussian random field is considered …