- #1
osxraider
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Hello fellow aerospace engineers and physicists, I am currently working on a project and trying to figure this out. I was wondering if you guys could help me out.
Here is the problem statement:
A nuclear waste disposal spacecraft is to be sent from Earth in order to carry radioactive waste either out of the solar system or into the Sun. Which alternative is cheaper in terms of delta v requirements ? The lesser delta v, the cheaper!
Remember that planetary fly-bys are allowed which means Venus and Mercury for this specific problem going to Sun. We will assume that whenever the spacecraft reaches Venus's sun orbit, venus will be there and the same for mercury. In case we are dumping outside the Solar System, we need to consider all planets beyond Earth. These should be used to minimize the required delta v.
Further, both trajectories lie in the elliptic.
Can people get me started off on how to go about designing the orbits and then figuring out which one is ultimately cheaper?
I will also need to use STK to design the orbits!
Thanks!
PS: I thought about whether it was more appropriate to post this in the coursework section but given the specific nature of this problem and the poor reply rate for aerospace/highly specific problems, I decided on posting here. I feel I will get more responses on here.
Here is the problem statement:
A nuclear waste disposal spacecraft is to be sent from Earth in order to carry radioactive waste either out of the solar system or into the Sun. Which alternative is cheaper in terms of delta v requirements ? The lesser delta v, the cheaper!
Remember that planetary fly-bys are allowed which means Venus and Mercury for this specific problem going to Sun. We will assume that whenever the spacecraft reaches Venus's sun orbit, venus will be there and the same for mercury. In case we are dumping outside the Solar System, we need to consider all planets beyond Earth. These should be used to minimize the required delta v.
Further, both trajectories lie in the elliptic.
Can people get me started off on how to go about designing the orbits and then figuring out which one is ultimately cheaper?
I will also need to use STK to design the orbits!
Thanks!
PS: I thought about whether it was more appropriate to post this in the coursework section but given the specific nature of this problem and the poor reply rate for aerospace/highly specific problems, I decided on posting here. I feel I will get more responses on here.
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