Exploration of bounded motion near binary systems comprised of small irregular bodies

摘要

To investigate the behavior of a spacecraft near a pair of irregular bodies, consider a three-body configuration (one massless). Two massive bodies, and , form the primary system; each primary is modeled as a sphere or an ellipsoid. Two primary configurations are addressed: 'synchronous' and 'non-synchronous'. Concepts and tools similar to those applied in the circular restricted three-body problem are exploited to construct periodic trajectories for a third body in synchronous systems. In non-synchronous systems, however, the search for third body periodic orbits is complicated by several factors. The mathematical model for the third-body motion is now time-variant and the motion of is not trivial.