Revisiting voyager 2's trajectory

Chandra, Budi; Arnott, Kim

Abstract

This paper presents reconstruction of Voyager 2 trajectory to examine how the mission was optimised for fuel and Time of Flight(TOF), as well as to find out if there is a more efficient trajectory for the full Earth-Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus-Neptune (EJSUN) sequence. Variable TOFs between each interplanetary maneuver for launch dates ± 1 year from the original were considered. Brute force search algorithms were developed to find optimized trajectories, the solution to Lambert’s problem for fast computation, and a patched conic integrator to plot the optimal trajectories. Multiple ‘unpowered’ gravity assist trajectories were found: the minimum total change in velocity (ΔV) at perigee found was less than 0.0035km/s for a total TOF of 4978 days (13.64 years), the shortest TOF trajectory found spanned 3299 days (9.04 years), with a total ΔV at perigee requirement less than 0.11km/s. With consideration to the trajectories found, it was determined that the Voyager 2 trajectory was likely to have been optimized for TOF.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 13, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 24, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 24, 2022
• Deposit Date: Mar 9, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 25, 2022
• Journal: Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
• Electronic ISSN: 0007-084X
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 75
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 42-47
• Series ISSN: 0007-084X
• Keywords: Trajectory, Voyager 2, Lambert’s Problem, Gravity Assist
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9097934
• Publisher URL: https://bis-space.com/shop/product/jbis-075-02-0042/