VISIT-1 4:3(2)- establishment trajectory (Rogers 2015 Table 4)

visit-1-4-3-2-establishment · source: literature · validation: V0

Signature

Bodies: E-M
Primary: Sun (default — heliocentric)
Sequence (canonical): E-M
Sense: outbound
Orbit class: Precursor
precursor MGA (one-shot insertion into a cycler)
Cycler class: single-ellipse
Returns: 1 — finite for epoch-locked classes
Validity window: 2046-06-12 → 2046-12-30
Launch epoch: 2046-06-12T00:00:00Z
Inserts into: Niehoff VISIT-1 Earth-Mars cycler
Trajectory regime: ballistic
Maintenance ΔV band: unclassified
Model assumption: analytic-ephemeris
Mid-fidelity: real eccentricity / inclination retained; not full N-body.
Period: 4.270 yr (2 × E-M synodic)
Establishment timeline over a 2-synodic period using V-infinity leveraging.
V_∞ leveraging ΔV (establishment): 0.043 km/s
Source ephemeris: STOUR analytic ephemeris
Ephemeris model the source states its numbers were computed against.
Priority date: 2015-03-11

V∞ at encounters

E (encounter 1): 2.83 km/s
Rogers 2015 Table 4 row VISIT-1 '4:3(2)-': V∞ flyby = 2.834 km/s; V∞ launch = 2.540 km/s.
M (encounter 2): — (not published)
Rogers 2015 Table 4 tabulates V∞ launch and V∞ flyby (both at the Earth flyby), not a distinct V∞ at Mars.

Orbit elements (heliocentric)

Semi-major axis a: — AU
Eccentricity e: —
Perihelion: 1.012 AU
Aphelion: 1.470 AU
Inclination: —°

perihelion_au/aphelion_au SOURCED: Rogers 2015 Table 4 row VISIT-1 '4:3(2)-': Periapse = 1.012 AU, Apoapse = 1.470 AU.

Orbit view 2.5D ecliptic projection

spacecraft: analytic-ephemeris (real e/i retained) 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

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 [unknown]
Per-segment trajectory topology not isolated from the accessible Rogers 2015 Table 4 sub-variant rows; tracked for future extraction work.

source: Rogers/Hughes/Longuski/Aldrin 2015 Acta Astro 112:114-125, Table 4 + Figure 2 trajectory diagrams.

Primary citation

Rogers, B. A. et al. (2015). Establishing cycler trajectories between Earth and Mars. Acta Astronautica 112:114-125 (2015).

DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2015.03.002

orbit source Rogers et al. 2012, Table 1 orbit fidelity analytic-ephemeris V∞ source Rogers et al. 2012, Table 1 V∞ fidelity analytic-ephemeris

Notes

VISIT-1 (Niehoff) cycler insertion variant. The lowest leveraging dV in Rogers 2015 Table 4 (0.043 km/s vs Aldrin's 0.568 km/s) - VISIT cyclers have low V_inf at both Earth and Mars in the idealized model and require minimal leveraging. Note the very large h_flyby (120,625 km) - the leveraging is dominated by the small DSM rather than the Earth flyby geometry. Admitted under the v4.7 catalogue-scope expansion as orbit_class= precursor_mga (2026-06-17). The inserts_into pointer resolves to niehoff-visit1.

Source quotes (per-field provenance)

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

launch_epoch: Rogers 2015 Table 4 row VISIT-1 '4:3(2)-': LD = 06/12/2046.
vinf_kms_at_encounters[0].vinf_kms: Rogers 2015 Table 4: V∞ flyby = 2.834 km/s.
v_infinity_leveraging_dv_kms: Rogers 2015 Table 4: ΔV_DSM = 0.043 km/s.
orbit_elements.perihelion_au: Rogers 2015 Table 4: Periapse = 1.012 AU.
orbit_elements.aphelion_au: Rogers 2015 Table 4: Apoapse = 1.470 AU.