Missions to Mars and his Trojan Asteroid Family – A Feasibility Study

Kurzfassung

In the context of ESA’s call for medium class missions (M5), we investigated missions to Mars. As part of proposal development, we studied the possibility to visit at least one Martian Trojan either through a flyby on the way to Mars or by going from Mars to a Trojan at the end of the mission. We find that both options are possible but require considerable mission resources. While the first option requires less fuel, it is very limited in terms of available time windows and margins. In contrast, the second option offers a more flexible Mission schedule, but requires more propellant and time.