Talk Series: 'Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software', from Interplanetary to Interstellar
Date: 9th February 2021
Time: 8pm UTC (London time)
Presenter: Adam Hibberd
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Summary
How do you get a spacecraft from Earth to another celestial body in the solar system? An obvious answer is directly, such as missions to Mars, like the Mars Insight Lander launched in 2018. However for certain missions, a sequence of planetary encounters may allow for higher spacecraft masses - an example of this is the Cassini spacecraft to Saturn.
Amongst other things, Adam Hibberd is a software engineer who has worked in the aerospace industry and this is a talk about his 'Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software', OITS, the general principles and its application. He developed it on his own and it turned out to be quite a powerful tool, particularly to solve the problem of sending spacecraft to intercept interstellar objects, 'Oumuamua and Borisov.
About the speaker
Adam Hibberd lives in Coventry and has a BSc Joint Honours in Physics and Maths from Keele University. He has worked as a software engineer in the aerospace industry, on the European satellite launch vehicle, Ariane 4 - in particular regard to the Flight Program, its Guidance algorithm, real-time testing and post flight analysis. He currently works as a researcher for the 'Initiative for Interstellar Studies'. He is also a fine pianist and composer, a member of the musical trio 'Superheroes Dream' who have produced a vinyl on the Coventry Tin Angel Record Label.
About the series
For more information on this series please visit our Talk Series page.