Browsing by Author "Esper, Jaime"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Mission design and technology for a Titan Aerobot Balloon System (TABS)
    (2012) Esper, Jaime; Röser, Hans-Peter (Prof. Dr. rer. nat.)
    An alternative implementation to a Titan aerobot mission is presented that uses tried (by similarity) and relatively low-risk methods for designing and deploying a Hydrogen-filled balloon in Titan’s atmosphere. This is a departure from the current consensus approach of using a Montgolfier (hot air) balloon for in-situ exploration. It was demonstrated that this mission implementation is not only feasible, but also presents a risk advantage in the deployment (the most critical part of operations) of this system, without the need for a complicated scheme of lines and ties that can snatch or rupture the material. With on-board Hydrogen, and an auxiliary tank for replenishment during a six-month mission, the Titan Aerobot Balloon System (TABS) is capable of gathering up to 892 Mbits of data per day, that includes optical, spectroscopy, and atmospheric remote and in-situ sensing. This data is transmitted directly to Earth with a steerable 1-meter parabolic dish antenna. During the course of formulating mission enablers, a new Thermal Protection System (TPS) material was also designed, manufactured, and tested at the Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme of the Universität Stuttgart. This new carbon/Phenolic ablator was successfully demonstrated at the IRS’ Plasma Wind tunnel. Two out of three sample types proved to be viable ablators, with no sign of delamination, and with thermal properties that enable high-speed entry not only in Titan’s atmosphere, but also for Earth re-entry and planetary sample return missions. TABS entry vehicle is 628 kg with a total floating mass including gondola and buoyant system of 242 kg (both numbers include a 30% contingency). TABS can be launched in a Space X Falcon 9 rocket, with a 30% performance margin (on top of the 30% contingency). There is enough mass and volume reserve left in the launch vehicle for co-manifested spacecraft, so international cooperation is not only built-into TABS, the flight can also accommodate the addition of separate contributions with the potential for individual partner cost-sharing and savings.