This book describes a revolutionary new approach to determining low energy routes for spacecraft and comets by exploiting regions in space where motion is very sensitive (or chaotic). It also represents an ideal introductory text to celestial mechanics, dynamical systems, and dynamical astronomy. Bringing together wide-ranging research by others with his own original work, much of it new or previously unpublished, Edward Belbruno argues that regions supporting chaotic motions, termed weak stability boundaries, can be estimated. Although controversial until quite recently, this method was in fact first applied in 1991, when Belbruno used a new route developed from this theory to get a stray Japanese satellite back on course to the moon. This application provided a major verification of his theory, representing the first application of chaos to space travel. Since that time, the theory has been used in other space missions, and NASA is implementing new applications under Belbruno's direction. The use of invariant manifolds to find low energy orbits is another method here addressed. Recent work on estimating weak stability boundaries and related regions has also given mathematical insight into chaotic motion in the three-body problem. Belbruno further considers different capture and escape mechanisms, and resonance transitions. Providing a rigorous theoretical framework that incorporates both recent developments such as Aubrey-Mather theory and established fundamentals like Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser theory, this book represents an indispensable resource for graduate students and researchers in the disciplines concerned as well as practitioners in fields such as aerospace engineering.

The book provides the most recent advances of Celestial Mechanics, as provided by high-level scientists working in this field. It covers theoretical investigations as well as applications to concrete problems. Outstanding review papers are included in the book and they introduce the reader to leading subjects, like the variational approaches to find periodic orbits and the space debris polluting the circumterrestrial space.

This volume is designed as an introductory text and reference book for graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of astronomy, astrodynamics, satellite systems, space sciences and astrophysics. The purpose of the book is to emphasize the similarities between celestial mechanics and astrodynamics, and to present recent advances in these two fields so that the reader can understand the inter-relations and mutual influences. The juxtaposition of celestial mechanics and astrodynamics is a unique approach that is expected to be a refreshing attempt to discuss both the mechanics of space flight and the dynamics of celestial objects. “Celestial Mechanics and Astrodynamics: Theory and Practice” also presents the main challenges and future prospects for the two fields in an elaborate, comprehensive and rigorous manner. The book presents homogenous and fluent discussions of the key problems, rendering a portrayal of recent advances in the field together with some basic concepts and essential infrastructure in orbital mechanics. The text contains introductory material followed by a gradual development of ideas interweaved to yield a coherent presentation of advanced topics.

In recent years, an unprecedented interest in novel and revolutionary space missions has risen out of the advanced NASA and ESA programs. Astrophysicists, astronomers, space systems engineers, mathematicians and scientists have been cooperating to implement novel and ground-breaking space missions. Recent progress in mathematical dynamics has enabled development of specialised spacecraft orbits and propulsion systems. Recently, the concept of flying spacecraft in formation has gained a lot of interest within the community. These progresses constitute the background to a significant renaissance of research dealing with astrodynamics and its applications. Modern Astrodynamics is designed as a stepping stone for the exposition of modern astrodynamics to students, researchers, engineers and scientists. This volume will present the main constituents of the astrodynamical science in an elaborate, comprehensive and rigorous manner. Although the volume will contain a few distinct chapters, it will render a coherent portrayal of astrodynamics. - Encompasses the main constituents of the astrodynamical sciences in an elaborate, comprehensive and rigorous manner - Presents recent astrodynamical advances and describes the challenges ahead - The first volume of a series designed to give scientists and engineers worldwide an opportunity to publish their works in this multi-disciplinary field

Nonlinear Dynamics of Complex Systems describes chaos, fractal and stochasticities within celestial mechanics, financial systems and biochemical systems. Part I discusses methods and applications in celestial systems and new results in such areas as low energy impact dynamics, low-thrust planar trajectories to the moon and earth-to-halo transfers in the sun, earth and moon. Part II presents the dynamics of complex systems including bio-systems, neural systems, chemical systems and hydro-dynamical systems. Finally, Part III covers economic and financial systems including market uncertainty, inflation, economic activity and foreign competition and the role of nonlinear dynamics in each.

This book of proceedings is an up-to-date review of the advances made in the past two decades on the production, control and exploitation of bright electron and light beams for science — in particular, innovative manipulation and control, in linear and circular accelerators, of high brightness charged particle beams. In the conceptual, theoretical and experimental framework of nonlinear beam dynamics and collective cooperative effects, the book provides an update of the state-of-the-art theoretical formulations, techniques and technologies, innovative concepts and scientific results obtained at existing accelerator facilities. Challenges and solutions, proposed or implemented, for the operation of third and fourth generation storage rings as synchrotron radiation sources and circular colliders for high energy particle physics, as well as radiofrequency linear accelerators for Compton/Thomson scattering-based light sources and free electron lasers, are reviewed and discussed. The complementarity between single-pass and recirculating light sources in energy, timing and spectral operational modes also emerges.

When a leaf falls on a windy day, it drifts and tumbles, tossed every which way on the breeze. This is chaos in action. In Fly Me to the Moon, Edward Belbruno shows how to harness the same principle for low-fuel space travel--or, as he puts it, "surfing the gravitational field." Belbruno devised one of the most exciting concepts now being used in space flight, that of swinging through the cosmos on the subtle fluctuations of the planets' gravitational pulls. His idea was met with skepticism until 1991, when he used it to get a stray Japanese satellite back on course to the Moon. The successful rescue represented the first application of chaos to space travel and ushered in an emerging new field. Part memoir, part scientific adventure story, Fly Me to the Moon gives a gripping insider's account of that mission and of Belbruno's personal struggles with the science establishment. Along the way, Belbruno introduces readers to recent breathtaking advances in American space exploration. He discusses ways to capture and redirect asteroids; presents new research on the origin of the Moon; weighs in on discoveries like 2003 UB313 (now named Eris), a dwarf planet detected in the far outer reaches of our solar system--and much more. Grounded in Belbruno's own rigorous theoretical research but written for a general audience, Fly Me to the Moon is for anybody who has ever felt moved by the spirit of discovery.

This book presents an overview of the outcomes resulting from applying the dynamical systems approach to space mission design, a topic referred to as "Space Manifold Dynamics" (SMD). It is a natural follow-on to the international workshop "Novel Spaceways for Scientific and Exploration Missions," which was held in October 2007 at the Telespazio Fucino Space Centre (Italy) under the auspices of the Space OPS Academy. The benefits and drawbacks of using the Lagrangian points and the associated trajectories for present and future space missions are discussed. The related methods and algorithms are also described in detail. Each topic is presented in articles that were written as far as possible to be self consistent; the use of introductory sections and of extended explanations is included in order to address the different communities potentially interested in SMD: space science, the aerospace industry, manned and unmanned exploration, celestial mechanics, and flight dynamics.

This is the first monograph dedicated entirely to problems of stability and chaotic behaviour in planetary systems and its subsystems. The author explores the three rapidly developing interplaying fields of resonant and chaotic dynamics of Hamiltonian systems, the dynamics of Solar system bodies, and the dynamics of exoplanetary systems. The necessary concepts, methods and tools used to study dynamical chaos (such as symplectic maps, Lyapunov exponents and timescales, chaotic diffusion rates, stability diagrams and charts) are described and then used to show in detail how the observed dynamical architectures arise in the Solar system (and its subsystems) and in exoplanetary systems. The book concentrates, in particular, on chaotic diffusion and clearing effects. The potential readership of this book includes scientists and students working in astrophysics, planetary science, celestial mechanics, and nonlinear dynamics.

Based on years of research conducted at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Low-Energy Lunar Trajectory Design provides high-level information to mission managers and detailed information to mission designers about low-energy transfers between Earth and the moon. The book answers high-level questions about the availability and performance of such transfers in any given month and year. Low-energy lunar transfers are compared with various other types of transfers, and placed within the context of historical missions. Using this book, designers may reconstruct any transfer described therein, as well as design similar transfers with particular design parameters. An Appendix, “Locating the Lagrange Points,” and a useful list of terms and constants completes this technical reference. Surveys thousands of possible trajectories that may be used to transfer spacecraft between Earth and the moon, including transfers to lunar libration orbits, low lunar orbits, and the lunar surface Provides information about the methods, models, and tools used to design low-energy lunar transfers Includes discussion about the variations of these transfers from one month to the next, and the important operational aspects of implementing a low-energy lunar transfer Additional discussions address navigation, station-keeping, and spacecraft systems issues