Aerocapture

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Aerocapture is a technique used to reduce velocity of a spacecraft, arriving at a celestial body with a hyperbolic trajectory, in order to bring it in an orbit with an eccentricity less or equal to 1. It uses the drag created by the atmosphere of the celestial body to decelerate. Only one pass in the atmosphere is required by this technique, in contrast with aerobraking. However, this approach requires significant thermal protection and precision closed-loop guidance during the maneuver. This level of control authority requires either the production of significant lift, or relatively large attitude control thrusters.

[edit] In Fiction

Aerocapture within fiction can be read in Arthur C. Clarke's NOVEL 2010: Odyssey Two, in which two spacecraft (one Russian, one Chinese) both use aerocapture in Jupiter's atmosphere to shed their excess velocity and position themselves for exploring Jupiter's satellites. This can be seen as a special effect in the movie version (created by MGM/released by Warner Home Video) in which only a Russian spacecraft undergoes aerocapture (in the film incorrectly called aerobraking), which is demonstrated via special effects.

[edit] References

• NASA article on aeroassist