Page:Project Longshot - Advanced Design Program Project Report.pdf/29

Rh For Option #2, the first two numbers are the same.

Obviously, the option of picking up fuel mined from the atmosphere of Jupiter would be impractical because of high cost and complication.

For the objective orbit within the Centauri system, Beta was chosen as the target star because it is a dK-type star, about which we have very little data, while Alpha is a G2 type star like our own, which we have studied extensively. the orbit chosen is based on an assumption that Alpha and Beta (which vary in distance between 11 and 35 AU) will be at the lesser of the two distances. The orbit chosen is an elliptical orbit around Beta for which the aphelion lies on the line between Alpha and Beta. The perihelion radius was set at 1 AU. The aphelion was determined based on a requirement that the gravitational effect of Alpha would not exceed 5% of the gravitational effect of Beta. Accordingly, an aphelion of 2.5 AU was chosen. At this aphelion the gravitational force on the probe due to