Thesis (M.S. in Astronautical Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): I. Michael Ross. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-58). Also available online.

This thesis explores how an Asteroid Sample Return Mission might make use of solar electric propulsion to send a spacecraft on a journey to the asteroid 1989ML and back. It examines different trajectories that can be used to get an asteroid sample return or similar spacecraft to an interplanetary destination and back in the most fuel-efficient manner. While current plans call for keeping such a spacecraft on the asteroid performing science experiments for approximately 90 days, it is prudent to inquire how lengthening or shortening this time period may affect mission fuel requirements. Using optimal control methods, various mission scenarios have been modeled and simulated. The results suggest that the amount of time that the spacecraft may spend on the asteroid surface can be approximated as a linear function of the available fuel mass. Furthermore, It can be shown that as maximum available thrust is decreased, the radial component of the optimal thrust vector becomes more pronounced.