DOPE: A science planning tool for the Destiny+ Dust Analyzer

We present the science planning tool for dust instrument observations that is currently under development within the DESTINY+ project. The JAXA-led DESTINY+ mission (Demonstration and Experiment of Space Technology for Interplanetary voyage Phaethon fLyby and dUst Science), set to launch in 2024, carries two camera instruments intended to study the active asteroid 3200 Phaethon during a flyby in 2028, as well as the Destiny+ Dust Analyzer (DDA), an impact ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer which will sample Phaethon’s dust environment. During the 4-years voyage leading up to the flyby, DDA will also study interplanetary and interstellar dust particles as its second main science objective. For this phase, the science working team is preparing tools to produce suitable high-level science operations schedules.

As DESTINY+ relies on solar-electric propulsion to expand its Earth orbit and ultimately reach interplanetary space, a highly dynamic spacecraft attitude is required to achieve an optimal thrust vector and illumination of the solar panels. To maintain some pointing autonomy, DDA has a dual-axis pointing mechanism, granting a coverage of 1pi solid angle. The dynamic attitude combined with the flexibility of a pointing mechanism warrants elaborate planning to optimize coverage of directional dust fluxes, such as interstellar dust. Here we present the DDA Observation Planning Environment (DOPE), which is a graphical tool for intuitive campaign design, including visualizations such as spacecraft orientation or instrument footprint. Under the hood DOPE uses the SPICE toolkit for all geometric or time calculations, thus import of SPICE kernels for spacecraft trajectory, attitude, and clock is required. Here we describe the DDA science planning process to provide a contextual frame for the tool and demonstrate its functionality with emphasis on the geometrical capabilities.