The invention that opened the solar system to exploration

The invention of gravity-propelled interplanetary space travel (also known as “gravity-assist trajectories”) in the early 1960s broke the high-energy barrier of classical space travel based on reaction propulsion, and made possible the exploration of the entire solar system with instrumented spacecraft. In this concept, a free-fall spacecraft is launched from a launch planet P1 to a nearby planet P2 such that its gravitational field (superimposed on the gravitational field of the Sun) catapults the vehicle to another planet P3, which in turn is used to repeat the process. Thus, through a series of planetary encounters, a gravity-propelled trajectory P1-P2-P3-P4-…-PN is generated. This paper describes how the invention was conceived and how the difficult mathematical problem of computing the trajectories was solved in order to numerically investigate and use the invention in actual missions. The crucial roles played by the UCLA Computing Facility and the Departments of Mathematics and Physics are also described.