PRECISION RELEASE AND AIM OF PAYLOADS LAUNCHED BY LUNAR MASS-DRIVER

Abstract

Payloads launched by lunar mass-driver do not incorporate onboard midcourse correction, and their trajectories must accurately attain a specified launch state. We offer an integrated mass-driver launch system employing several novel features. We discuss payload containment and release, proposing a means for lowdispersion release. We propose electromagnetic fins for passive eddy-current damping of oscillations of the payload carriers (buckets). We consider the magnetic interaction of payload and bucket during payload separation and release, as a source of launch errors. We propose a novel optical scanner and note its use in a sequence which determines position errors of a payload center of mass. Finally, we indicate applications of basic mass-driver technology to the magnetic correction of payload trajectories, discussing adjustment of both transverse and longitudinal velocity components. It appears that the largest residual error source is a transverse velocity component ~ 0.003 cm/s, which for a mass-catcher near the L2 libration point implies a circular error probable of diameter -3m.