  Performing orbital insertion around Mars using aerocapture instead of a
propulsive orbit insertion manoeuvre allows to save resources and/or increase
the payload mass fraction. Aerocapture has never been employed to date because
of the high uncertainties in the parameters from which it depends, mainly
related to atmospheric density modeling and navigation errors. The purpose of
this work is to investigate the feasibility of aerocapture at Mars with an
innovative deployable drag device, whose aperture can be modulated in flight,
and assess the effects of the main uncertainties on the success of the
manoeuvre. This paper starts with the presentation of a parametric
bi-dimensional analysis of the effectiveness of aerocapture, for which a wide
range of uncertainty levels in the atmospheric density and the ballistic
coefficient are considered. Then, an application to a real mission scenario is
carried out including the error of the targeting manoeuvre performed at the
limit of the sphere of influence of the planet. The analyses show the strong
influence of the uncertainties in the atmospheric density and the ballistic
coefficient, which significantly narrow the solution space and limit its
continuity. However, viable solutions for aerocapture can still be identified
even in the worst conditions.
