Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Aerospace Engineering

Major Professor

James E. Lyne

Committee Members

Zhili Zhang, Seungha Shin

Abstract

The outer reaches of the Solar System have great potential for scientific discovery. Unfortunately, visiting celestial bodies beyond Neptune, or trans-Neptunian objects, require lengthy mission durations with limited payload capacity. These missions are also costly due to the large infrastructure, manpower, and time required to plan and execute them. This thesis summarizes, analyzes, and discusses 14 years of research on interplanetary trajectories to trans-Neptunian objects completed by The University of Tennessee to discover methods of decreasing transit time and increasing payload mass. Additional research was then completed to investigate and expand upon these discoveries and optimize various aspects of the trajectories. There is a gap in the research done by The University of Tennessee pertaining to delta-VEGA maneuvers for orbiters and other complex inner planet trajectories to increase mass on target which were not investigated in this thesis but are important topics. The summary revealed areas which could be optimized including powered/unpowered Jupiter gravity assists, two-stage capture burns, and dual-target missions. The pass distance for Jupiter flybys was found to have a substantial impact on transit times. Lower Jupiter periapsis flyby distances decrease transit times, and/or the required delta-v for powered flybys, but increase the amount of radiation experienced by the spacecraft. The propellant mass for each stage of a two-stage burn is dependent on the size of the burn and initial mass before the burn. A technique to optimize a two-stage burn is proposed which would increase the arrival mass for lander and orbiter missions. A dual-target mission architecture with a single launch vehicle is devised and optimized which couples two trajectories by their powered Jupiter flyby delta-v to find the minimum sum transit time to both targets. A mass calculation method deemed “mission mass fraction” was also proposed allowing missions to be evaluated for a range of potential launch vehicles quickly.

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