Adam Hibberd
I’ve been progressing with my research into a Mars Cycler where the orbits of Earth and Mars are NOT assumed to be circular NOR coplanar, in other words the orbital paths followed are realistic rather than theoretical.
The following plot shows the cumulative DeltaV thrust achieved with each encounter, where there are 53 encounters altogether (more to come).
The straight line best fit is also provided and the gradient of this straight line is 531.94 m/s per encounter.
This is actually a very useful parameter as it informs us of what would be needed of the proplusion system by the cycling spacecraft over a long period of time.
