Aerocapture demonstration mission

The AERODEM is an ESA demonstration mission that will implement an aerocapture phase in order to provide an atmospheric ∆V instead of a standard chemical one for orbiting a SpaceCraft around Mars. The aerocapture technique currently studied relies on a discrete event drag modulation technique that modifies only once the aerocapture module ballistic coefficient by separating / retracting the heatshield. In the perspective of future large missions to Mars, the mission will have to collect and transmit to Earth technology flight measurements that will be necessary for the implementation of the single drag modulation aerocapture technique. A pre-phase A study has been conducted by a consortium led by ArianeGroup with Airbus Defense & Space – Madrid, RTech and Jehier-Hutchison as partners. Two configurations are considered for AERODEM:The Standalone configurationThe Piggy-Back configuration