Related papers: Tether Capture of spacecraft at Neptune
Transit surveys indicate that there is a deficit of Neptune-sized planets on close-in orbits. If this ``Neptune desert' is entirely cleared out by atmospheric mass loss, then planets at its upper edge should only be marginally stable…
The earth's orbit is becoming increasingly crowded with debris that poses significant safety risks to the operation of existing and new spacecraft and satellites. The active tether-net system, which consists of a flexible net with…
Aerocapture is a maneuver which uses aerodynamic drag to slow down a spacecraft in a single pass through the atmosphere. All planetary orbiters to date have used propulsive orbit insertion. Aerocapture is a promising alternative, especially…
Single-binary scattering may lead to an exchange where the single object captures a component of the binary, forming a new binary. This has been well studied in encounters between a star--planet pair and a single star. Here we explore the…
Planetary migration is a crucial stage in the early solar system, explaining many observational phenomena and providing constraints on details related to the solar system's origins. This paper aims to investigate the acceleration during…
Photoevaporative models predict that the lower edge of the Neptune desert is sculpted by atmospheric mass loss. However, the stellar high energy fluxes that power hydrodynamic escape and set predicted mass loss rates can be uncertain by…
Super-Earths are one of the most common types of extrasolar planets currently known. Hundreds of these planets have been discovered by the $Kepler$ spacecraft and other surveys, with masses up to 10 $M_\oplus$ and consequently higher…
We present the results of detailed dynamical simulations of the effect of the migration of the four giant planets on both the transport of pre-formed Neptune Trojans, and the capture of new Trojans from a trans-Neptunian disk. We find that…
The currently available, detailed properties (e.g., isotopic ratios) of solar system planets may provide guides for constructing better approaches of exoplanet characterization. With this motivation, we explore how the measured values of…
Approximately 10-20% of all Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) occupy mean-motion resonances with Neptune. This dynamical configuration likely resulted from resonance capture as Neptune migrated outward during the late stages of planet formation.…
A migrating planet can capture planetesimals into mean motion resonances. However, resonant trapping can be prevented when the drift or migration rate is sufficiently high. Using a simple Hamiltonian system for first and second order…
[Abridged] The occurrence rate of observed sub-Neptunes has a break at 0.1 au, which is often attributed to a migration trap at the inner rim of protoplanetary disks where a positive co-rotation torque prevents inward migration. We argue…
Recently, the spinning tethered system is regarded as a typical and fundamental space structure attracting great interest of the aerospace engineers, and has been discussed primarily for specific space missions in past decades, including…
We use Keck/NIRSPEC to survey a sample of of young ($<$1 Gyr), short period mini Neptunes orbiting nearby K dwargs to measure their mass loss via the metastable helium line. We detect helium absorption from all four of the targets in our…
The distribution of close-in exoplanets is shaped by the interplay between atmospheric and dynamical processes. The Neptunian Desert, Ridge, and Savanna illustrate the sensitivity of these worlds to such processes, making them ideal to…
Aerocapture uses atmospheric drag to decelerate spacecraft and achieve orbit insertion. One of the significant risks associated with aerocapture is the uncertainty in the atmospheric density, particularly for outer planets. The paper…
With advancements in low-cost launchers and small interplanetary spacecraft, NASA has recognized the potential of small missions to perform focused planetary science investigations at Mars and Venus. The EscaPADE, part of the NASA SIMPLEx…
The Neptunian satellite system is unusual, comprising Triton, a large ($\sim2700$ km) moon on a close-in, circular, yet retrograde orbit, flanked by Nereid, the largest irregular satellite ($\sim$300 km) on a highly eccentric orbit. Capture…
In this Letter, we give new constraints on planet migration. They were obtained under the assumption that Saturn's current obliquity is due to a capture in resonance with Neptune's ascending node. If planet migration is too fast, then…
We demonstrate that the observed distribution of `Hot Neptune'/`Super-Earth' systems is well reproduced by a model in which planet assembly occurs in situ, with no significant migration post-assembly. This is achieved only if the amount of…