Related papers: Earth--Mars Transfers with Ballistic Capture
A number of irregular moons of the Jovian planets have recently been discovered. Most adequate way of their origin is capture, but detailed mechanism is unknown. A few possibilities are discussed: collisions, gas drag, tidal destruction of…
The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) proposes to retrieve a near-Earth asteroid and position it in a lunar distant retrograde orbit (DRO) for later study, crewed exploration, and ultimately resource exploitation. During the Caltech Space…
Terraforming Mars is an age old science fiction concept now worth revisiting through the lens of modern science and technology. This document serves as a summary of contemporary ideas about Mars terraforming, prepared for attendees of the…
Low-thrust trajectories play a crucial role in optimizing scientific output and cost efficiency in asteroid belt missions. Unlike high-thrust transfers, low-thrust trajectories require solving complex optimal control problems. This…
Under a terraforming scenario, a reactivated hydrological cycle on Mars will result in upwards movement of water due to evaporation and precipitation. If Mars' embryonic fossilized catchments provide inadequate drainage, Mars' limited…
Placing satellites in geostationary obital (GEO) is propellant exigeant. It requires large propellant consumption that will take a large part of the total mass. Hence the interest is reduce the mass of propellant loaded both in the rocket…
The operation of multirotors in crowded environments requires a highly reliable takeoff method, as failures during takeoff can damage more valuable assets nearby. The addition of a ballistic launch system imposes a deterministic path for…
This paper presents a simple approach to low-thrust optimal-fuel and optimal-time transfer problems between two elliptic orbits using the Cartesian coordinates system. In this case, an orbit is described by its specific angular momentum and…
Three of the seven rocky planets (e, f, and g) in TRAPPIST-1 system orbit in the habitable zone of the host star. Therefore, water can be in liquid state at their surface being essential for life. Recent studies suggest that these planets…
Motivated by recent measurements of the free-floating planet mass function at terrestrial masses, we consider the possibility that the solar system may have captured a terrestrial planet early in its history. We show that $\sim 1.2$…
The formation of planets like Earth is expected to conclude with a series of late-stage giant impacts that generate warm dusty debris, the most anticipated visible signpost of terrestrial planet formation in progress. While there is now…
Terrestrial planets in temperate orbits around very low mass stars are likely to have evolved in a very different way than solar system planets, and in particular Earth. However, because these are the first planets that are and will be…
Author offers conclusions from his research of a revolutionary new idea - transferring electric energy in the hard vacuum of outer space wirelessly, using a plasma power cord as an electric cable (wire). He shows that a certain minimal…
In this paper a direct method based on a transcription by finite elements in time has been used to design optimal interplanetary trajectories, exploiting a combination of gravity assist maneuvers and low-thrust propulsion. A multiphase…
Efficient quantum-state transfer is achieved in a uniformly coupled spin-1/2 chain, with open boundaries, by application of local magnetic fields on the second and last-but-one spins, respectively. These effective \textit{barriers} induce…
The larger the distance to instability from a matrix is, the more robustly stable the associated autonomous dynamical system is in the presence of uncertainties and typically the less severe transient behavior its solution exhibits.…
A method and facilities for delivering payload and people into outer space are presented. This method uses, in general, engines located on a planetary surface. The installation consists of a space apparatus, power drive stations, which…
The transit method is a promising means to detect exomoons, but few candidates have been identified. For planets close to their stars, the dynamical interaction between a satellite's orbit and the star must be important in their evolution.…
High altitude platform station (HAPS) systems have recently attracted renewed attention. While terrestrial and satellite technologies are well-established for providing connectivity services, they face certain shortcomings and challenges,…
We investigate the optimal mass transport problem associated to the following "ballistic" cost functional on phase space $M\times M^*$, $$ b_T(v, x):=\inf\{\langle v, \gamma (0)\rangle +\int_0^TL(\gamma (t), {\dot \gamma}(t))\, dt, \gamma…