Mission design and navigation of multiple-satellite-aided capture trajectories and cyclers for missions to Jupiter

Satellite-aided capture is a mission design concept used to reduce the delta-v required to capture into a planetary orbit. Sequences of close flybys of two or more of the Galilean moons of Jupiter are initially designed using patched-conic methods then numerically integrated as a proof of concept. A phase-angle analysis based on the Laplace resonance is used to find triple-satellite-aided capture sequences involving Io, Europa, and Ganymede. This phase angle analysis is also extended to create Laplace-resonant triple cyclers, which can periodically fly by all of the three moons indefinitely. By integrating backward, satellite-aided capture sequences are connected to Earth launch opportunities to form more complete mission scenarios. A preliminary navigation analysis of these trajectories has also been performed using statistical orbit determination (with batch sequential filters) and maneuver design (with differential corrector targeters)