Aldrin classic Earth-Mars cycler (inbound / down-escalator, 1 synodic)

aldrin-classic-em-k1-inbound · source: literature · validation: V1

Signature

Bodies: M-E
Primary: Sun (default — heliocentric)
Sequence (canonical): M-E
Sense: inbound
Orbit class: Cycler
strict cycler (infinite returns)
Cycler class: single-ellipse
Trajectory regime: powered
Maintenance ΔV band: Powered · source: byrnes-longuski-aldrin-1993
Model assumption: circular-coplanar
Idealised: planets on circles, coplanar ecliptic.
Period: 2.135 yr (1 × E-M synodic)
Priority date: 1985-10-28

V∞ at encounters

M (encounter 1): 9.70 km/s
Due to symmetric geometry, the inbound V_inf matches the outbound V_inf. Value from Russell 2004 Table 3.4 for the Aldrin.
E (encounter 2): 6.50 km/s
Symmetric with outbound.

Orbit view 2.5D ecliptic projection

spacecraft: idealized coplanar ellipse planets: J2000 osculating ellipse (Standish & Williams Table 1) clock: idealized phase clock (no epoch) orientation: coplanar-idealized (no Ω/ω published — in-plane ellipse) encounters: time-true on the idealized phase clock (real mean motions, phase chosen so the geometry's encounters occur)

— — planet orbit (true J2000 ellipse) ——— cycler ellipse

Legs (trajectory segments)

M → E: 146 d, 0 revs
Mars->Earth inbound transit. Symmetric to the outbound leg. a/e are the single Aldrin heliocentric ellipse shared by both legs.
E → M: 634 d, 0 revs
Derived mathematically: T_cycler (780 d) - inbound transit (146 d) = 634 d. Both legs trace arcs of the same a=1.60/e=0.393 ellipse.

Definition status

incomplete — core fields missing or known-unknowns tracked below

Known-unknowns (1)

Values we expect to exist but have not yet filled (distinct from "not applicable"). Tracked per upstream docs/spec.md §16.6.4.

trajectory.maneuvers[E].dv_kms [unknown]
Same as aldrin-classic-em-k1-outbound: the classic Aldrin (1L1) maintenance-DV magnitude is NOT published. McConaghy 2002 (AIAA 2002-4420, Table 4 row '1L1') gives a turn-angle test (required ~84 deg > max ~72 deg at the EARTH geocentric flyby, 200 km altitude) and defers DV estimation to future work (p.8). Inbound is the time-mirror of outbound and shares the same gap.

source: McConaghy/Longuski/Byrnes 2002 AIAA 2002-4420 Table 4 + dissertation (geocentric 84/72 deg, 200 km Earth flyby); DV magnitude deferred p.8

Primary citation

Aldrin, B. (1985). Cyclic Trajectory Concepts. SAIC presentation to the Interplanetary Rapid Transit Study Meeting, JPL.

orbit source Rogers et al. 2012, Table 1 orbit fidelity circular-coplanar V∞ source Russell 2004, Table 3.4 V∞ fidelity circular-coplanar

Notes

The "inbound" / "down escalator" branch. Time-mirror image of `aldrin-classic-em-k1-outbound`. While M7 novelty matching will likely collapse this under the same primary identity as the outbound, it is given a dedicated seed so the search algorithm validates both directional geometries explicitly.

Source quotes (per-field provenance)

Every numerical value in this entry traces to a verbatim or paraphrased quote from a cited source.

vinf_kms_at_encounters[0].vinf_kms: Russell 2004 dissertation §3.8: 'Due to symmetry, the energy properties for inbound and outbound cyclers are identical.'
vinf_kms_at_encounters[1].vinf_kms: Russell 2004 dissertation §3.8 (same as above).
legs[0].tof_days: Wikipedia / McConaghy 2002: symmetric 146-day fast transit.
period.years: Earth-Mars synodic 2.135 yr — spec.md §9.