COMET RENDEZVOUS ASTEROID FLYBY Mission Characterization

COMET RENDEZVOUS ASTEROID FLYBY Mission Characterization - Abstract

COMET RENDEZVOUS ASTEROID FLYBY
MISSION CHARACTERIZATION

Introduction
The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) mission was to be launched in 1995 but due to budget constraints and the current economic situation the project was just recently scrapped. Despite the cancellation, I submit this report for interests sake and for the ambitious nature of this mission. The mission designers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratories provide a detailed mission analysis in reference 1. A summary of the mission profile will be addressed for an Earth launch on 22 August 1995.

The main target of the CRAF mission is Comet Kopff. On its way to the comet, an asteroid flyby of Hamburga will be executed. The vehicle to carry out this mission is the CRAF Mariner Mark II as seen in figure 1.

Sunday, 01-Aug-2004 00:36:47 CDT
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