Related papers: The Delicate Dance of Orbital Rendezvous
Relativistic rigid motion suggests a new version for the so-called `twin paradox', comparing the ages of two astronauts on a very long spaceship. Although there is always an instantaneous inertial frame in which the whole spaceship, being…
In this paper, the trajectory planning problem for autonomous rendezvous and docking between a controlled spacecraft and a tumbling target is addressed. The use of a variable planning horizon is proposed in order to construct an appropriate…
The space challenges do exist at every stride on a human expedition to Mars that arise due to galactic natural phenomena and artificial technologies. This paper emphasizes on Mars orbital and planetary challenges encountered from orbit to…
The dissipation of tidal inertial waves in planetary and stellar convective regions is one of the key mechanisms that drive the evolution of star-planet/planet-moon systems. In this context, the interaction between tidal inertial waves and…
Comprehensive analysis of space debris rotational dynamics is vital for active debris removal missions that require physical capture or de-tumbling of a target. We study the attitude motion of used rocket bodies acknowledgedly belonging to…
The rotation of a planet located in the habitable zone of a solar-type star can be reversed by a smooth process associated with the formation of its atmosphere and the increase of stronger torques, opposite to normal tidal torques. Our…
The orbital dynamics of a spacecraft orbiting around irregular small celestial bodies is a challenging problem. Difficulties to model the gravity field of these bodies arise from the poor knowledge of the exact shape as observed from the…
Gas giant planets in the Solar system host large satellite systems with multiple regular and irregular moons. Regular moons revolve around their host planet in circular, low inclination short period orbits, and are thought to form in-situ…
(Abridged) Planets are surrounded by fractal surfaces (traditionally called Hill spheres), separating the inner zones of long-term stable orbital motion of their satellites from the outer space where the gravitational pull from the Sun…
Future multi-spacecraft missions require robust autonomous trajectory optimization capabilities to ensure safe and efficient rendezvous operations. This capability hinges on solving non-convex optimal control problems in real-time, although…
Saturn's moon Iapetus has an orbit in a transition region where the Laplace surface is bending from the equator to the orbital plane of Saturn. The orbital inclination of Iapetus to the local Laplace plane is ~8 deg, which is unexpected,…
This paper explores the problem of analytically approximating the orbital state for a subset of orbits in a rotating potential with oblateness and ellipticity perturbations. This is done by isolating approximate differential equations for…
The recent discovery of a planet in an orbit with eccentricity $e = 0.63 \pm 0.08$ around the Solar-type star 16 Cyg B, together with earlier discoveries of other planets in orbits of significant eccentricity, raises the question of the…
This paper studies the mean angular momentum associated with the collision of two celestial objects in the earliest stages of planet formation. Of primary concern is the scenario of two rarefied preplanetesimals (RPPs) in circular…
The modestly eccentric and non-coplanar orbits of the giant planets pose a challenge to solar system formation theories which generally indicate that the giant planets emerged from the protoplanetary disk in nearly perfectly circular and…
The stellar spin orientation relative to the orbital planes of multiplanet systems are becoming accessible to observations. Here, we analyze and classify different types of spin-orbit evolution in compact multiplanet systems perturbed by an…
In the leading theory of lunar formation, known as the giant impact hypothesis, a collision between two planet-size objects resulted in a young Earth surrounded by a circumplanetary debris disk from which the Moon later accreted. The range…
Saturn's mid-sized moons (satellites) have a puzzling orbital configuration with trapping in mean-motion resonances with every other pairs (Mimas-Tethys 4:2 and Enceladus-Dione 2:1). To reproduce their current orbital configuration on the…
The Moon is known to have a small liquid core, and it is thought that in the distant past the core may have produced strong magnetic fields recorded in lunar samples. Here we implement a numerical model of lunar orbital and rotational…
Planets with several Earth masses and a few day orbital periods have been discovered through radial velocity and transit surveys. Regardless of their formation mechanism, a key evolution issue is the efficiency of their retention near their…