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62-437: TSSM may refer to: Titan Saturn System Mission Type III secretion machinery Two-spotted spider mite The Spectacular Spider-Man The Spectacular Spider-Man (TV series) The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie , particularly the video game of the same name Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

124-548: A mission to Jupiter and its moons was given priority over Titan Saturn System Mission , although TSSM will continue to be assessed for possible development and launch. The Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) was officially created in January 2009 by the merging of the ESA's Titan and Enceladus Mission ( TandEM ) with NASA's Titan Explorer (2007) study, although plans to combine both concepts date at least back to early 2008. TSSM

186-619: A Titan orbiter. They will be equipped to study Titan's features with instruments for imaging, radar profiling, and surface as well as atmospheric sampling , much more complete than done by the Cassini–Huygens mission. The spacecraft will use several gravity assist flybys of other planets to enable it to reach Saturn. The baseline design envisaged a September 2020 launch, followed by four gravity assists ( Earth – Venus –Earth–Earth), and arrival at Saturn 9 years later in October 2029. This

248-546: A deep understanding of the physics behind the concept of gravity assist and its potential for the interplanetary exploration of the solar system. Italian engineer Gaetano Crocco was first to calculate an interplanetary journey considering multiple gravity-assists. The gravity assist maneuver was first used in 1959 when the Soviet probe Luna 3 photographed the far side of the Moon. The maneuver relied on research performed under

310-525: A hot air balloon, would be released on approach to the first Titan flyby for ballistic entry into Titan's atmosphere for its six Earth months’ mission from April 2030 to October 2030. Based on Cassini–Huygens discoveries, the Montgolfière should be able to circumnavigate Titan at least once during its nominal lifetime at its deployment latitude of about 20°N, 10 kilometers above Titan's surface. Numerous proposals have been brought forward with respect to

372-405: A more active past; on the presence or absence of ammonia , of a magnetic field and of a sub-surface ocean; on the chemistry that drives complex ion formation in the upper atmosphere; and on a large altitude range in the atmosphere, from 400–900 km, which remains poorly explored after Cassini. In addition, much remains to be understood about seasonal changes of the atmosphere at all levels, and

434-485: A particular destination. For example, the Voyager missions which started in the late 1970s were made possible by the " Grand Tour " alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A similar alignment will not occur again until the middle of the 22nd century. That is an extreme case, but even for less ambitious missions there are years when the planets are scattered in unsuitable parts of their orbits. Another limitation

496-559: A spectrometer to analyze the liquid hydrocarbons, a sonar to map the lakebed, and a weather station to monitor Titan's unique meteorological conditions. Furthermore, mission planners are considering the inclusion of a submersible probe that could be deployed from TiME to explore beneath the surface of Ligeia Mare, providing unprecedented insights into the potential for prebiotic chemistry in Titan's seas. These enhancements would not only expand our understanding of Titan but could also offer clues to

558-442: A velocity low enough to permit orbit insertion with available fuel. Although the flybys were primarily orbital maneuvers, each provided an opportunity for significant scientific observations. The Cassini–Huygens spacecraft was launched from Earth on 15 October 1997, followed by gravity assist flybys of Venus (26 April 1998 and 21 June 1999), Earth (18 August 1999), and Jupiter (30 December 2000). Transit to Saturn took 6.7 years,

620-544: A velocity of v , but in the horizontal direction. In the Sun reference frame, the planet has a horizontal velocity of v, and by using the Pythagorean Theorem, the spaceship initially has a total velocity of √ 2 v . After the spaceship leaves the planet, it will have a velocity of v + v = 2 v , gaining approximately 0.6 v . This oversimplified example cannot be refined without additional details regarding

682-456: Is a type of spaceflight flyby which makes use of the relative movement (e.g. orbit around the Sun ) and gravity of a planet or other astronomical object to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft , typically to save propellant and reduce expense. Gravity assistance can be used to accelerate a spacecraft, that is, to increase or decrease its speed or redirect its path. The "assist"

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744-431: Is limited by the spacecraft's ability to resist the heat. A rotating black hole might provide additional assistance, if its spin axis is aligned the right way. General relativity predicts that a large spinning mass produces frame-dragging —close to the object, space itself is dragged around in the direction of the spin. Any ordinary rotating object produces this effect. Although attempts to measure frame dragging about

806-465: Is one of several available Earth-to-Saturn transfer options from the year 2018 through 2022. Current NASA plans do not give the TSSM a priority, however, and it is unlikely any of the proposed launch dates can be met. Upon Saturn arrival, in October 2029, the orbiter's chemical propulsion system would place the flight system into orbit around Saturn, followed by a two-year Saturn Tour Phase, characterized by

868-474: Is provided by NASA and JPL. At a distance of 152.2  AU (22.8  billion   km ; 14.1 billion  mi ) from Earth as of January 12, 2020, it is the most distant human-made object from Earth. Voyager 2 was launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets . Its trajectory took longer to reach Jupiter and Saturn than its twin spacecraft but enabled further encounters with Uranus and Neptune . The Galileo spacecraft

930-400: Is provided by the motion of the gravitating body as it pulls on the spacecraft. Any gain or loss of kinetic energy and linear momentum by a passing spacecraft is correspondingly lost or gained by the gravitational body, in accordance with Newton's Third Law . The gravity assist maneuver was first used in 1959 when the Soviet probe Luna 3 photographed the far side of Earth's Moon , and it

992-451: Is slowed by the Sun's gravity to a speed far less than the orbital speed of that outer planet. Therefore, there must be some way to accelerate the spacecraft when it reaches that outer planet if it is to enter orbit about it. Rocket engines can certainly be used to increase and decrease the speed of the spacecraft. However, rocket thrust takes propellant, propellant has mass, and even a small change in velocity (known as Δ v , or "delta- v ",

1054-510: Is the atmosphere, if any, of the available planet. The closer the spacecraft can approach, the faster its periapsis speed as gravity accelerates the spacecraft, allowing for more kinetic energy to be gained from a rocket burn. However, if a spacecraft gets too deep into the atmosphere, the energy lost to drag can exceed that gained from the planet's gravity. On the other hand, the atmosphere can be used to accomplish aerobraking . There have also been theoretical proposals to use aerodynamic lift as

1116-441: Is thought to be largely composed of liquid water. TSSM would be the first mission in the 50 years of space exploration where an extensive and interdisciplinary in situ survey of active organic chemistry and climate on the land, on the sea, and in the air of another world will take place. Gravity assist A gravity assist , gravity assist maneuver , swing-by , or generally a gravitational slingshot in orbital mechanics ,

1178-442: The delta symbol being used to represent a change and "v" signifying velocity ) translates to a far larger requirement for propellant needed to escape Earth's gravity well . This is because not only must the primary-stage engines lift the extra propellant, they must also lift the extra propellant beyond that which is needed to lift that additional propellant. The liftoff mass requirement increases exponentially with an increase in

1240-449: The orbital perturbations planets undergo due to interactions with other celestial bodies on astronomically short timescales. For example, one metric ton is a typical mass for an interplanetary space probe whereas Jupiter has a mass of almost 2 x 10 metric tons. Therefore, a one-ton spacecraft passing Jupiter will theoretically cause the planet to lose approximately 5 x 10 km/s of orbital velocity for every km/s of velocity relative to

1302-498: The Parker Solar Probe progressively closer to the Sun. As of 2022, the spacecraft has performed five of its seven assists. The Parker Solar Probe's mission will make the closest approach to the Sun by any space mission. Solar Orbiter was launched by ESA in 2020. In its initial cruise phase, which lasts until November 2021, Solar Orbiter performed two gravity-assist manoeuvres around Venus and one around Earth to alter

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1364-447: The Sun gained by the spacecraft. For all practical purposes the effects on the planet can be ignored in the calculation. Realistic portrayals of encounters in space require the consideration of three dimensions. The same principles apply as above except adding the planet's velocity to that of the spacecraft requires vector addition as shown below. Due to the reversibility of orbits , gravitational slingshots can also be used to reduce

1426-416: The Sun have produced no clear evidence, experiments performed by Gravity Probe B have detected frame-dragging effects caused by Earth. General relativity predicts that a spinning black hole is surrounded by a region of space, called the ergosphere , within which standing still (with respect to the black hole's spin) is impossible, because space itself is dragged at the speed of light in the same direction as

1488-483: The Sun, and a spacecraft traveling from Earth to an outer planet will decrease its speed because it is leaving the vicinity of the Sun. Although the orbital speed of an inner planet is greater than that of the Earth, a spacecraft traveling to an inner planet, even at the minimum speed needed to reach it, is still accelerated by the Sun's gravity to a speed notably greater than the orbital speed of that destination planet. If

1550-786: The Sun. All the planets orbit approximately in a plane aligned with the equator of the Sun. Thus, to enter an orbit passing over the poles of the Sun, the spacecraft would have to eliminate the speed it inherited from the Earth's orbit around the Sun and gain the speed needed to orbit the Sun in the pole-to-pole plane. It was achieved by a gravity assist from Jupiter on February 8, 1992. The MESSENGER mission (launched in August 2004) made extensive use of gravity assists to slow its speed before orbiting Mercury. The MESSENGER mission included one flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and three flybys of Mercury before finally arriving at Mercury in March 2011 with

1612-451: The atmosphere and then splashdown on the liquid surface. The plutonium-powered craft's principal function is to sample and analyze organics on the surface for a period of about 3 to 6 months; this would be the first floating exploration of an extraterrestrial sea. In addition to the primary mission, TiME could be equipped with a suite of advanced instruments to study the chemical composition and physical properties of Titan's lakes. This includes

1674-400: The beginning and end of its trajectory by using the gravity of the two planets' moons. The portion of his manuscript considering gravity-assists received no later development and was not published until the 1960s. In his 1925 paper "Problems of Flight by Jet Propulsion: Interplanetary Flights" ( "Проблема полета при помощи реактивных аппаратов: межпланетные полеты" ), Friedrich Zander showed

1736-434: The black hole's spin. The Penrose process may offer a way to gain energy from the ergosphere, although it would require the spaceship to dump some "ballast" into the black hole, and the spaceship would have had to expend energy to carry the "ballast" to the black hole. The gravity assist maneuver was first attempted in 1959 for Luna 3 , to photograph the far side of the Moon. The satellite did not gain speed, but its orbit

1798-504: The broader question of life's origins in the universe. The major goals of the TSSM mission can be summarized under four categories: At Titan, the science goals would be to provide information on such aspects as the composition of the surface and the geographic distribution of the various organic constituents; on the methane cycle and the methane reservoirs ; on the ages of the surface features, and in particular on whether cryovolcanism and tectonism are actively ongoing or are relics of

1860-403: The deployment of the in situ elements, and including a minimum of seven close Enceladus flybys and 16 Titan flybys. During this period, repeated satellite gravity assists and maneuvers will reduce the energy needed to insert into Titan's orbit. As the craft completes its flyby by Enceladus, the orbiter will analyze the unusual cryovolcanic plumes at the moon's south pole. The Montgolfière ,

1922-621: The direction of Mstislav Keldysh at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics . In 1961, Michael Minovitch , UCLA graduate student who worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), developed a gravity assist technique, that would later be used for the Gary Flandro 's Planetary Grand Tour idea. During the summer of 1964 at the NASA JPL, Gary Flandro was assigned the task of studying techniques for exploring

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1984-552: The first spacecraft to explore Mercury . Voyager 1 was launched by NASA on September 5, 1977. It gained the energy to escape the Sun's gravity by performing slingshot maneuvers around Jupiter and Saturn. Having operated for 47 years, 2 months and 22 days as of November 28, 2024 UTC [ refresh ] , the spacecraft still communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data

2046-453: The front of the train. Because of the train's motion, however, that departure is at 130 km/h relative to the train platform; the ball has added twice the train's velocity to its own. Translating this analogy into space: in the planet reference frame , the spaceship has a vertical velocity of v relative to the planet. After the slingshot occurs the spaceship is leaving on a course 90 degrees to that which it arrived on. It will still have

2108-470: The gravity assist technique with Earth once, with Venus twice, and six times with Mercury . It will arrive in 2025. BepiColombo is named after Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo who was a pioneer thinker with this way of maneuvers. Lucy was launched by NASA on 16 October 2021. It gained one gravity assist from Earth on the 16th of October, 2022, and after a flyby of the main-belt asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh it will gain another in 2024. In 2025, it will fly by

2170-451: The hydrologic cycle on Earth. However, questions about the sources of re-supply of methane to the atmosphere remain to be answered. This world is built by organic activities which still operate and Cassini–Huygens findings suggest a world with a balance of geologic and atmospheric processes that is the solar system's best analogue to Earth . Moreover, an interior ocean discovered by Cassini, deep underneath Titan's dense atmosphere and surface

2232-603: The inner main-belt asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson . In 2027, it will arrive at the L 4 Trojan cloud (the Greek camp of asteroids that orbits about 60° ahead of Jupiter), where it will fly by four Trojans, 3548 Eurybates (with its satellite), 15094 Polymele , 11351 Leucus , and 21900 Orus . After these flybys, Lucy will return to Earth in 2031 for another gravity assist toward the L 5 Trojan cloud (the Trojan camp which trails about 60° behind Jupiter), where it will visit

2294-435: The lake-lander concept. One of the most detailed plans so far is the so-called Titan Mare Explorer (TiME), which had originally been proposed as a separate scout mission, but might eventually be postponed and included in the TSSM. If approved, TiME would be released by the orbiter on its second Titan flyby. Due to Titan's haze layer and its distance to the Sun, the lander cannot be powered by solar panels and it would rely on

2356-410: The limited amount which has been carried into space. Gravity assist maneuvers can greatly change the speed of a spacecraft without expending propellant, and can save significant amounts of propellant, so they are a very common technique to save fuel. The main practical limit to the use of a gravity assist maneuver is that planets and other large masses are seldom in the right places to enable a voyage to

2418-414: The long-term escape of constituents to space. TiME lander would splashdown on Ligeia Mare , a methane sea on Titan's northern hemisphere. It is believed that Titan's methane cycle is analogous to Earth's hydrologic cycle , with meteorological working fluid existing in liquid and gas phase. TiME would directly discern the methane cycle of Titan and help understand its similarities and differences to

2480-460: The new Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG), which is a prototype meant to provide availability of long-lived power supplies for landed networks and other planetary missions. The lander will target Ligeia Mare , a northern polar sea of liquid hydrocarbons at about 79°N. The probe will descend by parachute, like the Huygens probe of 2005. During the 6 hours of descent it will analyze

2542-418: The orbit, but if the spaceship travels in a path which forms a hyperbola , it can leave the planet in the opposite direction without firing its engine. This example is one of many trajectories and gains of speed the spaceship can experience. This explanation might seem to violate the conservation of energy and momentum, apparently adding velocity to the spacecraft out of nothing, but the spacecraft's effects on

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2604-483: The outer planets of the solar system. In this study he discovered the rare alignment of the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) and conceived the Planetary Grand Tour multi-planet mission utilizing gravity assist to reduce mission duration from forty years to less than ten. A spacecraft traveling from Earth to an inner planet will increase its relative speed because it is falling toward

2666-569: The plane of the rings. A typical Titan encounter changed the spacecraft's velocity by 0.75 km/s, and the spacecraft made 127 Titan encounters. These encounters enabled an orbital tour with a wide range of periapsis and apoapsis distances, various alignments of the orbit with respect to the Sun, and orbital inclinations from 0° to 74°. The multiple flybys of Titan also allowed Cassini to flyby other moons, such as Rhea and Enceladus . The Rosetta probe, launched in March 2004, used four gravity assist maneuvers (including one just 250 km from

2728-405: The planet must also be taken into consideration to provide a complete picture of the mechanics involved. The linear momentum gained by the spaceship is equal in magnitude to that lost by the planet, so the spacecraft gains velocity and the planet loses velocity. However, the planet's enormous mass compared to the spacecraft makes the resulting change in its speed negligibly small even when compared to

2790-525: The point of closest approach (limited by either the surface or the atmosphere.) Interplanetary slingshots using the Sun itself are not possible because the Sun is at rest relative to the Solar System as a whole. However, thrusting when near the Sun has the same effect as the powered slingshot described as the Oberth effect . This has the potential to magnify a spacecraft's thrusting power enormously, but

2852-585: The potential of becoming a part of the TSSM have been proposed in February and October 2009, respectively. In 2014 it was thought the TSSM might have been revived for a launch on the SLS super-heavy-lift rocket. The TSSM mission consists of an orbiter and two Titan exploration probes: a hot air balloon ("Montgolfier" type) that will float in Titan's clouds, and a lander that will splash down on one of its methane seas. Both probes’ data are to be relayed to

2914-735: The required delta- v of the spacecraft. Because additional fuel is needed to lift fuel into space, space missions are designed with a tight propellant "budget", known as the " delta-v budget ". The delta-v budget is in effect the total propellant that will be available after leaving the earth, for speeding up, slowing down, stabilization against external buffeting (by particles or other external effects), or direction changes, if it cannot acquire more propellant. The entire mission must be planned within that capability. Therefore, methods of speed and direction change that do not require fuel to be burned are advantageous, because they allow extra maneuvering capability and course enhancement, without spending fuel from

2976-578: The spacecraft arrived at 1 July 2004. Its trajectory was called "the Most Complex Gravity-Assist Trajectory Flown to Date" in 2019. After entering orbit around Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft used multiple Titan gravity assists to achieve significant changes in the inclination of its orbit as well so that instead of staying nearly in the equatorial plane, the spacecraft's flight path was inclined well out of

3038-429: The spacecraft flies through the atmosphere. This maneuver, called an aerogravity assist , could bend the trajectory through a larger angle than gravity alone, and hence increase the gain in energy. Even in the case of an airless body, there is a limit to how close a spacecraft may approach. The magnitude of the achievable change in velocity depends on the spacecraft's approach velocity and the planet's escape velocity at

3100-422: The spacecraft's purpose is only to fly by the inner planet, then there is typically no need to slow the spacecraft. However, if the spacecraft is to be inserted into orbit about that inner planet, then there must be some way to slow it down. Similarly, while the orbital speed of an outer planet is less than that of the Earth, a spacecraft leaving the Earth at the minimum speed needed to travel to some outer planet

3162-562: The spacecraft's trajectory, guiding it towards the innermost regions of the Solar System. The first close solar pass will take place on 26 March 2022 at around a third of Earth's distance from the Sun. BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the planet Mercury . It was launched on 20 October 2018. It will use

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3224-417: The spaceship's trajectory and speed relative to the Sun. A close terrestrial analogy is provided by a tennis ball bouncing off the front of a moving train. Imagine standing on a train platform, and throwing a ball at 30 km/h toward a train approaching at 50 km/h. The driver of the train sees the ball approaching at 80 km/h and then departing at 80 km/h after the ball bounces elastically off

3286-408: The speed of a spacecraft. Both Mariner 10 and MESSENGER performed this maneuver to reach Mercury . If more speed is needed than available from gravity assist alone, a rocket burn near the periapsis (closest planetary approach) uses the least fuel. A given rocket burn always provides the same change in velocity ( Δv ), but the change in kinetic energy is proportional to the vehicle's velocity at

3348-446: The surface of Mars, and three assists from Earth) to accelerate throughout the inner Solar System. That enabled it to flyby the asteroids 21 Lutetia and 2867 Šteins as well as eventually match the velocity of the 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet at the rendezvous point in August 2014. New Horizons was launched by NASA in 2006, and reached Pluto in 2015. In 2007 it performed a gravity assist on Jupiter. The Juno spacecraft

3410-502: The time of the burn. Therefore the maximum kinetic energy is obtained when the burn occurs at the vehicle's maximum velocity (periapsis). The Oberth effect describes this technique in more detail. In his paper "To Those Who Will Be Reading in Order to Build" ( "Тем, кто будет читать, чтобы строить" ), published in 1938 but dated 1918–1919, Yuri Kondratyuk suggested that a spacecraft traveling between two planets could be accelerated at

3472-463: The title TSSM . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TSSM&oldid=1095655443 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Titan Saturn System Mission In 2009,

3534-496: Was changed in a way that allowed successful transmission of the photos. NASA's Pioneer 10 is a space probe launched in 1972 that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter . Thereafter, Pioneer 10 became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System . In December 1973, Pioneer 10 spacecraft was the first one to use the gravitational slingshot effect to reach escape velocity to leave Solar System. Pioneer 11

3596-502: Was competing against the Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) proposal for funding, and in February 2009 it was announced that NASA/ESA had given EJSM priority ahead of TSSM. TSSM continued to be studied for a later launch date, near the 2020s. Detailed assessment reports of the mission elements as well as a specific concept for a lake-landing module for Titan's lakes called Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) with

3658-515: Was launched by NASA in 1989 and on its route to Jupiter got three gravity assists, one from Venus (February 10, 1990), and two from Earth (December 8, 1990 and December 8, 1992). Spacecraft reached Jupiter in December 1995. Gravity assists also allowed Galileo to flyby two asteroids, 243 Ida and 951 Gaspra . In 1990, NASA launched the ESA spacecraft Ulysses to study the polar regions of

3720-515: Was launched by NASA in 1973, to study the asteroid belt , the environment around Jupiter and Saturn , solar winds , and cosmic rays . It was the first probe to encounter Saturn , the second to fly through the asteroid belt , and the second to fly by Jupiter . To get to Saturn, the spacecraft got a gravity assist on Jupiter. The Mariner 10 probe was the first spacecraft to use the gravitational slingshot effect to reach another planet, passing by Venus on 5 February 1974 on its way to becoming

3782-421: Was launched on August 5, 2011 (UTC). The trajectory used a gravity assist speed boost from Earth, accomplished by an Earth flyby in October 2013, two years after its launch on August 5, 2011. In that way Juno changed its orbit (and speed) toward its final goal, Jupiter , after only five years. The Parker Solar Probe , launched by NASA in 2018, has seven planned Venus gravity assists. Each gravity assist brings

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3844-448: Was used by interplanetary probes from Mariner 10 onward, including the two Voyager probes' notable flybys of Jupiter and Saturn. A gravity assist around a planet changes a spacecraft's velocity (relative to the Sun ) by entering and leaving the gravitational sphere of influence of a planet. The sum of the kinetic energies of both bodies remains constant (see elastic collision ). A slingshot maneuver can therefore be used to change

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