The book focuses on the orbital dynamics and mission trajectory (transfer or target trajectory) design of low-energy flight in the context of modern astrodynamics. It investigates various topics that either offer new methods for solving classical problems or address emerging problems that have yet to be studied, including low-thrust transfer trajectory design using the virtual gravity field method; transfer in the three-body system using invariant manifolds; formation flying under space-borne artificial magnetic fields; and the orbital dynamics of highly irregular asteroids. It also features an extensive study of the orbital dynamics in the vicinity of contact binary asteroids, including the 1:1 ground-track resonance, the equilibrium points and their stability, and the third-order analytical solution of orbital motion in the vicinity of the non-collinear equilibrium point. Given its breadth of coverage, the book offers a valuable reference guide for all engineers and researchers interested in the potential applications of low-energy space missions.

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

This is a long-overdue volume dedicated to space trajectory optimization. Interest in the subject has grown, as space missions of increasing levels of sophistication, complexity, and scientific return - hardly imaginable in the 1960s - have been designed and flown. Although the basic tools of optimization theory remain an accepted canon, there has been a revolution in the manner in which they are applied and in the development of numerical optimization. This volume purposely includes a variety of both analytical and numerical approaches to trajectory optimization. The choice of authors has been guided by the editor's intention to assemble the most expert and active researchers in the various specialities presented. The authors were given considerable freedom to choose their subjects, and although this may yield a somewhat eclectic volume, it also yields chapters written with palpable enthusiasm and relevance to contemporary problems.

This book considers global solutions to the restricted three-body problem from a geometric point of view. The authors seek dynamical channels in the phase space which wind around the planets and moons and naturally connect them. These low energy passageways could slash the amount of fuel spacecraft need to explore and develop our solar system. In order to effectively exploit these passageways, the book addresses the global transport. It goes beyond the traditional scope of libration point mission design, developing tools for the design of trajectories which take full advantage of natural three or more body dynamics, thereby saving precious fuel and gaining flexibility in mission planning. This is the key for the development of some NASA mission trajectories, such as low energy libration point orbit missions (e.g., the sample return Genesis Discovery Mission), low energy lunar missions and low energy tours of outer planet moon systems, such as a mission to tour and explore in detail the icy moons of Jupiter. This book can serve as a valuable resource for graduate students and advanced undergraduates in applied mathematics and aerospace engineering, as well as a manual for practitioners who work on libration point and deep space missions in industry and at government laboratories. the authors include a wealth of background material, but also bring the reader up to a portion of the research frontier.

Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students, Second Edition, provides an introduction to the basic concepts of space mechanics. These include vector kinematics in three dimensions; Newton's laws of motion and gravitation; relative motion; the vector-based solution of the classical two-body problem; derivation of Kepler's equations; orbits in three dimensions; preliminary orbit determination; and orbital maneuvers. The book also covers relative motion and the two-impulse rendezvous problem; interplanetary mission design using patched conics; rigid-body dynamics used to characterize the attitude of a space vehicle; satellite attitude dynamics; and the characteristics and design of multi-stage launch vehicles. Each chapter begins with an outline of key concepts and concludes with problems that are based on the material covered. This text is written for undergraduates who are studying orbital mechanics for the first time and have completed courses in physics, dynamics, and mathematics, including differential equations and applied linear algebra. Graduate students, researchers, and experienced practitioners will also find useful review materials in the book. - NEW: Reorganized and improved discusions of coordinate systems, new discussion on perturbations and quarternions - NEW: Increased coverage of attitude dynamics, including new Matlab algorithms and examples in chapter 10 - New examples and homework problems

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.

The ARTEMIS mission was initiated by skillfully moving the two outermost Earth-orbiting THEMIS spacecraft into lunar orbit to conduct unprecedented dual spacecraft observations of the lunar environment. ARTEMIS stands for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun. Indeed, this volume discusses initial findings related to the Moon’s magnetic and plasma environments and the electrical conductivity of the lunar interior. This work is aimed at researchers and graduate students in both heliophysics and planetary physics. Originally published in Space Science Reviews, Vol. 165/1-4, 2011.

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.