VALIDATION OF A FINITE SPHERE GRAVITATION MODEL WITH APPLICATIONS TO COMET 67P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO

摘要

Improved finite element methodology for estimating small body gravitational fieldsis validated through numeric analyses of asteroid Itokawa. The model implementsuniform spherical elements of two sizes to obtain a fill ratio that approximates theasteroid shape model geometry to nearly 100% efficiency. The gravitational modelis applied to the geometry of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and employedto analyze orbital dynamics and stability of ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft during initialstages of the comet mapping and characterization phase in the comet environment.