Related papers: Asteroid Deflection Using a Spacecraft in Restrict…
Spacecraft relative motion planning is concerned with the design and execution of maneuvers relative to a nominal target. These types of maneuvers are frequently utilized in missions such as rendezvous and docking, satellite inspection and…
(Abridged) The solar system gas giant planets are oblate due to their rapid rotation. A measurement of the planet's projected oblateness would constrain the planet's rotational period. Planets that are synchronously rotating with their…
Given the spin state by Magnusson (1990), the shape model by Ostro et al. (2000), and the mass by Descamps et al. (2011), this paper evaluates a dynamically and structurally stable size of Asteroid (216) Kleopatra. In particular, we…
We calculate the angles of deflection of high speed particles projected in an arbitrary direction into the Kerr gravitational field. This is done by first calculating the light-like boost of the Kerr gravitational field in an arbitrary…
A method for classifying orbits near asteroids under a polyhedral gravitational field is presented, and may serve as a valuable reference for spacecraft orbit design for asteroid exploration. The orbital dynamics near asteroids are very…
Through multiple, small unmanned probes we can more efficiently capture an asteroid and return it to lunar orbit. The Asteroid Return and Exploration System (ARES) aims to make use of previously tested technology with the application of a…
In recent years, understanding asteroids has shifted from light worlds to geological worlds by exploring modern spacecraft and advanced radar and telescopic surveys. However, flyby in 2029 will be an opportunity to conduct an internal…
The orbital motion of a binary system is characterized by various characteristic temporal intervals which, by definition, are different from each other: the draconitic, anomalistic and sidereal periods. They all coincide in the Keplerian…
The rotational mass loss has been realized to be a prevalent mechanism to produce low-speed debris near the asteroid, and the size composition of the asteroid's surface regolith has been closely measured by in situ explorations. However,…
Kepler's orbits with corrections due to Special Relativity are explored using the Lagrangian formalism. A very simple model includes only relativistic kinetic energy by defining a Lagrangian that is consistent with both the relativistic…
A body dissipates energy when it freely rotates about any axis different from principal. This entails relaxation, i.e., decrease of the rotational energy, with the angular momentum preserved. The spin about the major-inertia axis…
Recent space missions have provided substantial evidence of regolith movement on the surfaces of near Earth asteroids. To investigate this phenomenon, we present a continuum-based model that describes regolith motion on nearly spherical…
The science and origins of asteroids is deemed high priority in the Planetary Science Decadal Survey. Major scientific goals for the study of planetesimals are to decipher geological processes in SSSBs not determinable from investigation…
Despite their very low surface gravities, asteroids exhibit a number of different geological processes involving granular matter. Understanding the response of this granular material subject to external forces in microgravity conditions is…
We describe three useful applications of asteroseismology in the context of exoplanet science: (1) the detailed characterisation of exoplanet host stars; (2) the measurement of stellar inclinations; and (3) the determination of orbital…
For deep-space mission design, the gravity of the Sun and the Moon can be first considered and utilized. Their gravity can provide the energy change for launching spacecraft and retrieving spacecraft as well as asteroids. Regarding an…
In this article, theory-based analytical methodologies of astrophysics employed in the modern era are suitably operated alongside a test research-grade telescope to image and determine the orbit of a near-earth asteroid from original…
About 10% of the observed asteroids have rotational periods lower than P = 3 h and they seem to be relatively close to the spin barrier. Yet, the rotation has often been neglected in simulations of asteroid collisions. To determine the…
Some asteroids contain water ice, and a space mission landing on an asteroid may take liquid to the surface of the asteroid. Gas pressure is very weak on the surface of asteroids. Here we consider the capillary action in a crack on the…
Coagulation theory predicts that micron-sized dust grains grow into pebbles which drift inward towards the star, when they reach sizes of mm-cm. When they cross the orbit of a planet, a fraction of these drifting pebbles will be accreted.…