These dates are only correct
to within about a week because leap years were neglected and times were
rounded in the calculations. However, this is an acceptable range of error
for the purposes of long range planning since a launch any time within
a couple of weeks of these dates would work. The trajectory could be slightly
altered within that span so that the spacecraft still reached its destination.
Choice of Launch Window
When considering a launch
date, there were several important factors. The most important was the
alignment of the planets. Launch dates for which the orbit of the spacecraft
intersects Mars' orbit when Mars is at that location occur about every
two years (see table). Dates between the present and 2023 were considered
because it seemed like a reasonable time frame for this mission. The propulsion
system selected necessitates fifteen years of building time, so dates before
2015 were eliminated. Then the dates were compared to a graph of the solar
activity and times of high dust storm probability on Mars versus time.
It is important to avoid dust storms because they might destroy equipment,
make navigation difficult, or cut off communications. However, these problems
have been accounted for through engineering. A launch date during a time
of low solar activity is perhaps more important because solar flares have
the potential to hurt people quite badly when they are relatively unprotected
in space, as well as cutting off communications. There were no launch windows
within the time frame considered that avoided dust storms entirely, but
a couple of them avoided landing or launching from the surface during a
time of high dust storms. Fortunately, one of these times coincided with
a time of minimum solar activity. This was the date ultimately chosen,
January twenty-fifth, 2017. All dates generated are only accurate to within
a week, since leap years were ignored and some rounding occurred in the
calculations. Fortunately, this is okay because launch can occur within
a couple weeks to either side of these dates if slightly more or less fuel
is used and the trajectory is corrected a little.
References:
Kelppner, Daniel and Kolenkow,
Robert J. An Introduction To Mechanics. McGraw Hill, Inc., Boston:
1973.
Mars Academy. www.marsacademy.com.
4/10/2000. |