[ Music ]
>> The constraints that we have on Constellation particularly
with respect to the architecture is all about mass
and performance, how much mass can we deliver at what time
and the key there is performance whether it's launch vehicle
or propulsion systems and with Copernicus we're able
to optimize our propulsion systems.
>> We haven't had a lot of lunar missions to design
in the last 30 years until now.
But...so it's gratifying to me that we're able
to still be very much the leader in the arena
of interplanetary trajectories and Copernicus is the kind
of tool that is exactly tailored for doing it.
[ Music ]
>> The thing about Copernicus is that it's
like a one stop shopping, everything is there
for the user, it has a powerful engine that includes optimizers,
integrators, it's a modular set up.
It has a user friendly GUI interface
and it has a visualization capability on board
so you can immediately see what the trajectory looks
like if there's any issues.
These are all brought together in one suite
and it makes one user very powerful.
It also allows you to visually modify the trajectories
and that's very powerful for a single user
and it shortens the development time quite a bit.
>> Copernicus is by its nature designed
to be continuously evolving.
However, it is a very mature tool as it is right now,
it's gone through a tremendous amount of validation
and currently we use it in real flying projects.
>> Well one of the things that we always needed
in a computer code was the ability
to do precisely a variation of the specific impulse,
in most computer codes for trajectories do not have
that feature, that's one thing but the other thing is
that we wanted that variation to be optimal,
to find an optimum solution so those were the kinds of things
that Copernicus enabled for us.
>> Copernicus by design is a generalized trajectory design
and optimization system and it can form
and analyze a whole range
of missions including sample return missions to the planets,
asteroid rendezvous missions, asteroid orbiting missions,
it can be used to design satellite tours
around the exterior planets like Jupiter and Saturn,
it can also host a wide range of propulsion systems
and any number of space craft.
The architecture by design accommodates all
these possibilities.
>> We've used Copernicus on a number of projects,
currently we're using it in the Constellation program,
we're using it to do a lot of the performance
and mission analysis for the Orion vehicle which is going
to be the vehicle that takes the crew back and forth
from earth to the moon.
>> The key role of Copernicus is to help us do mission design
to decide what the trajectories of the vehicles are
and the propellant loads we need
to deliver the payload space craft to various places
around the moon and onto the surface.
>> Middle of last year we did a review called the Lunar
Capability Concept Review and we were reviewing where we stood
and how much capability does the rocket have to have,
how much capability does the lander have to have
and it's tools like Copernicus that were used to put
that picture together and help us understand you know
if I vary the crew size,
if I vary how long the space craft stays in orbit
around the moon, how much propellant is inside the lander
you know as I play with these different knobs if you will
of the integrated problem it's tools like Copernicus
that give us an ability to go
and interrogate just how sensitive are those knobs and so
in that review that we had,
Lunar Capability Concept Review was wildly successful.
It gave us our first real rich understanding
of the integrated performance of this architecture.
For each launch date we couldn't just go into a fixed orbit
that we could use for multiple launch dates because we needed
to have an impact that supported the viewing requirements
and the lighting and the observation requirements
that satisfied our science requirements.
As a result we had to design a variable orbit
for each launch date.
Copernicus we used that software to optimize the trajectory,
minimize our delta-v and achieve a high impact angle of attack
that we needed in order
to maximize our science data return.
>> We use the program to do research,
we also use the program to teach at the university
and at outreach events at the public school system in Austin.
Use it to teach basic courses in orbital mechanics,
I use it to teach advanced courses
in space craft trajectory optimization
at the graduate level at the university.
>> Copernicus was a small project, kind of a lean,
mean project and we got what I think is an extremely powerful
tool on a relatively small budget.
>> The intent is to be an evolutionary tool,
it will evolve over time as the needs require it to be.
But it also has the ability to bring on board new techniques
and algorithms that may be developed
for example a controller or a guidance algorithm,
it's very specific to a particular vehicle
so those can be merged in just as an integrator,
you know in an optimization capability would be
so we can very quickly tailor Copernicus
to very specific vehicle needs if we want to
or keep it very general to do very general mission design
and what if kind of analysis.
>> And because
of the architecture we can accommodate a whole range
of propulsion systems and any number of space craft
which make the tool very useful for the complex missions
that are going to come on line in the future.
So we want to be there, we want to be there ready with a tool
like this and make the necessary improvements and changes needed
for example to solve problems we may have not even thought about.
[ Music ]