Date of Award

Fall 12-2021

Access Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering

Department

Aeronautical Science

Committee Chair

Troy Henderson

First Committee Member

Mihhail Berezovski

Second Committee Member

Dongeun Seo

Abstract

Satellites have used gravity assists to increase their speed when exploring the solar system. This same maneuver can be done but with the objective to slow down the satellites. This has been theorized to slow down asteroids using the moon to capture them in earth’s orbit. My goal is to determine if asteroids can be used to provide a change in speed great enough to the point that after multiple of these maneuvers the satellite can come to a stop. By being able to slow down and stop a satellite without having to use thrusters will allow the mass allocated to fuel to be removed or used for more equipment. Different mass and sizes configuration will provide a range of asteroids that can be used and afterward each of these asteroids will be used to stop the satellite. Doing so, the minimum size asteroid that will have an influence on a satellite can be found as well as the minimum number of maneuvers needed to stop a satellite.

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