Data for: Cryo-braking using Penetrators for Enhanced Capabilities for the Potential Landing of Payloads on Icy Solar System Objects

The icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn are important astrobiology targets. Access to the surface of these worlds is made difficult by the high ΔV requirements which is typically in the hypervelocity range. Passive braking systems cannot be used due to the lack of an atmosphere, and active braking by rockets significantly adds to the missions costs. This paper demonstrates that a two-stage landing system can overcome these problems and provide significant improvements in the payload fraction that can be landed The first stage involves a hypervelocity impactor which is designed to penetrate to a depth of a few tens of meters. This interaction is the cryo-breaking component and is examined through laboratory experiments, empirical relations and modeling. The resultant ice-particle cloud creates a transient artificial atmosphere that can be used to enable passive braking of the second stage payload section, with a substantially higher mass payload fraction than possible with a rocket landing system.

木星与土星的冰卫星是重要的天体生物学研究目标。由于抵达此类天体表面需要极高的速度增量（ΔV），且该增量通常处于超高速区间，因此登陆此类天体表面极具挑战。由于这类天体缺乏大气层，无法使用被动制动系统；而依靠火箭进行主动制动则会大幅提升任务成本。本研究表明，采用两级登陆系统可解决上述难题，并能显著提升可登陆有效载荷占比。该系统的第一阶段为超高速撞击器，其设计目标是穿透至数十米深度。该撞击过程属于低温破碎环节，可通过实验室实验、经验关系式与建模手段开展研究。由此产生的冰粒子云会形成短暂的人工大气层，可用于实现第二阶段载荷段的被动制动，其有效载荷质量占比远高于火箭登陆系统。