Characterization of Trajectories to Collect Samples from Europa's Plume

The search for life in other celestial bodies has always been a topic of great interest within the scientific community. The curiosity to know if we are the only ones in the universe or not has driven the development of many engineering projects. This Master Thesis is meant to do its bit in this research field. Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is...

Optimisation Strategies for Galilean Moon Tours: Low-Thrust Multiple Gravity-Assist Trajectory Design for GTOC6

Around 1610 Galileo Galilei made his discovery of the four large moons orbiting Jupiter which are referred to now as the Galilean moons. The moons Europa and Ganymede attract a significant amount of scientific interest due to potential present subsurface oceans. As consequence, the design of missions to go there and explore the moon system are...