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Delta V

All articles tagged with #delta v

space2 hours ago•4 min saved

New Lunar Trajectory Slashes Fuel Costs by 58.80 m/s

Researchers using the theory of functional connections simulated 30 million routes to the Moon and found a more fuel-efficient path that enters the lunar variate from the far side, reducing delta-v by 58.80 m/s and maintaining continuous Earth communication. The findings, based on gravity-assisted trajectories in the Interplanetary Transportation Network, could lower mission costs, though it is an initial result and future work may incorporate solar gravity as lunar missions scale up (e.g., Artemis 2).

via The Times of India|

#delta-v #interplanetary-transportation-network #lunar

space3 days ago•11 min saved

Hidden L1 route trims propellant and keeps Earth in sight on the Moon trek

Researchers, using a 30-million-trajectory search, identify a fuel-efficient Earth–Moon transfer that funnels through the L1 Lagrange point to maintain continuous line-of-sight with Earth and reduce delta-v by about 58.8 m/s compared with the best prior route. The plan is a two-segment path: Earth parking orbit to a stable manifold leading to L1, then from L1 to lunar orbit via an unstable manifold, with entry to the lunar variate from the Moon-facing side. This approach directly addresses Artemis II’s radio blackout by avoiding lunar occultation, but its accuracy omits Sun and other perturbations and is date-dependent, suggesting potential broader applicability if generalized to other destinations in future work.

via Space Daily|

#artemis-ii #delta-v #l1

space16 days ago•6 min saved

Mars City by Asteroid Belt: A Two-Stop Route to Metals

A new arXiv preprint argues a permanent Martian city could be built not from Earth-supplied materials or local Martian ore, but by mining metallic asteroids in the Main Belt and refueling en route to Mars via a two-stop route. A Starship-like craft would first visit an M-type asteroid for metals, then a nearby C-type asteroid for water and propellants (ISPP), before returning to Mars within a 6.4 km/s delta-v capacity, with about 22 asteroid pairs available in a 2040 launch window. The plan could deliver roughly 200 tons of metal over 20 years, but each trip would take about a decade due to orbital timing, and ISPP would fill the 1,100-ton propellant tank at only ~2 kg/day—requiring more than 1,500 years—unless propulsion tech advances. While non-chemical propulsion could change the math, the study concludes asteroid mining is physically feasible yet faces major practical hurdles, ultimately suggesting Mars could host its own space-based industrial backbone rather than a perpetual Earth supply chain.

via Indian Defence Review|

#asteroid-mining #delta-v #in-situ-resource-utilization