Reduction,relative equilibria and potential in the two rigid bodies problem

In this paper the problem of two, and thus, after a generalization, of an arbitrary finite number, of rigid bodies is considered. We show that the Newton-Euler equations of motion are Hamiltonian with respect to a certain non-canonical structure. The system possesses natural symmetries. Using them we shown how to perform reduction of the number of degrees of freedom. We prove that on every stage of this process equations of motion are Hamiltonian and we give explicite form corresponding of non-canonical Poisson bracket. We also discuss practical consequences of the reduction. We prove the existence of 36 non-Lagrangean relative equilibria for two generic rigid bodies. Finally, we demonstrate that our approach allows to simplify the general form of the mutual potential of two rigid bodies.     

Mutual gravitational potential ofN solid bodies

The mutual gravitational potential ofN solid bodies is expanded without approximation in terms of harmonic coefficients of each body. As an application the Euler dynamical equations for the motion of the axis of figure of the rigid Earth are integrated analytically by the method of variation of parameters.     

The relative motion of two spheroidal rigid bodies

We consider two spheroidal rigid bodies of comparable size constituting the components of an isolated binary system. We assume that (1) the bodies are homogeneous oblate ellipsoids of revolution, and (2) the meridional eccentricities of both components are small parameters.We obtain seven nonlinear differential equations governing simultaneously the relative motion of the two centroids and the rotational motion of each set of body axes. We seek solutions to these equations in the form of infinite series in the two meridional eccentricities.In the zero-order approximation (i. e., when the meridional eccentricities are neglected), the equations of motion separate into two independent subsystems. In this instance, the relative motion of the centroids is taken as a Kepler elliptic orbit of small eccentricity, whereas for each set of body axes we choose a composite motion consisting of a regular precession about an inertial axis and a uniform rotation about a body axis.The first part of the paper deals with the representation of the total potential energy of the binary system as an infinite series of the meridional eccentricities. For this purpose, we had to (1) derive a formula for representing the directional derivative of a solid harmonic as a combination of lower order harmonics, and (2) obtain the general term of a biaxial harmonic as a polynomial in the angular variables.In the second part, we expound a recurrent procedure whereby the approximations of various orders can be determined in terms of lower-order approximations. The rotational motion gives rise to linear differential equations with constant coefficients. In dealing with the translational motion, differential equations of the Hill type are encountered and are solved by means of power series in the orbital eccentricity. We give explicit solutions for the first-order approximation alone and identify critical values of the parameters which cause the motion to become unstable.The generality of the approach is tantamount to studying the evolution and asymptotic stability of the motion.Research performed under NASA Contract NAS5-11123.     

Mutual gravitational potential and torque of solid bodies via inertia integrals

The mutual gravitational potential and the mutual gravitational torque of two bodies of arbitrary shape are expanded to the fourth order. The derivations are based on Cartesian coordinates, inertia integrals with relation to the principal reference frames of each body, and the relative rotation matrix. The current formulation is convenient to utilize in high precision problems in rotational dynamics.     

Coupled motion of rigid bodies about their center of mass

A study is made of the motion of a system consisting of two rigid bodies coupled by a massless rigid boom. Relative translational and rotational motions are examined with the assumption that no external forces are acting on the system. For specific sets of initial conditions and assumptions on the symmetries of the two bodies, nontrivial analytic solutions are observed. The stability and the internal torques are also examined for a few selected cases.This research was conducted while the author was a senior research associate of the National Research Council at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.     

The relative motion of two spheroidal rigid bodies,II

This study constitutes the second phase of an effort devoted to the relative motion of two spheroidal rigid bodies.

An isolated binary system was considered whose components are bodies: (1) of comparable size; (2) of constant density; and (3) having the shape of an oblate ellipsoid of revolution with small meridional eccentricity.

The equations that determine the relative motion of the centroids and the angular motion for the two sets of body axes constitute a simultaneous system of seven nonlinear, second-order differential equations, for which solutions were obtained as power series in the two meridional eccentricities.

A recurrent procedure was formulated to ascertain the various approximations in terms of lower order terms; it gave rise to linear differential equations with constant coefficients for the angular variables and to differential equations of the Hill type for the other coordinates. The zero-order approximation for the motion of the centroids was assumed to be a Kepler elliptic orbit of small eccentricity.

The following contributions were made:

1. (1)

   The general solution to the zero-order approximation of the rotational motion was obtained in terms of elementary functions;

2. (2)

   Certain functionals, related to the Kepler motion and depending on two parameters, were expressed in terms of the mean anomaly up to the sixth power of the orbital eccentricity in order to evaluate the lower order terms of the various approximations;

3. (3)

   The secular terms were eliminated from the first-order approximation;

4. (4)

   The second-order approximation was also obtained; and

5. (5)

   An alternate procedure was suggested that might be more appropriate for achieving higher order approximations.

     

The equilibrium solutions of the restricted problem of three rigid bodies with variable mass

In this paper we consider the circular planar restricted problem of three rigid bodiesS _i(i=1, 2, 3), two of them are axisymmetric ellipsoids and a third bodyS ₃ is a spherical satellite with decreasing mass, under the gravitational forces. The effect of small perturbations in the Coriolis force and the centrifugal forces on the location of equilibrium points has been studied. It is found only in the case when the primaries have equal differences between their respective principal moments of inertial the pointsL ₄ andL ₅ form nearly equilateral tringles with the primaries. The equilibrium pointsL ₁,L ₂,L ₃ remain collinear an ies on the line joining the primaries.     

The restricted problem of a tri-axial rigid body and two spherical bodies with variable masses

The restricted problem of a tri-axial rigid body and two spherical bodies with variable masses be considered. The general solution of the equations of motion of the tri-axial body be obtained in which the motion of the spherical bodies is determined by the classic nonsteady Gyldén-Meshcherskii problem.     

The determination of the gravitational potential of arbitrary mass distribution

Numerical computation of the gravitational potential for arbitrary mass distribution in spherical coordinates is considered. It is possible to determine the potential from the spherical expansion of the Poisson integral with 1/2n ² NML operations — i.e., with a number proportional to the mesh numberNML multiplied by the square of the Legendre functions of indexn. The computation of the potential based on the solution of the Poisson differential equation is discussed.     

Simulation of the full two rigid body problem using polyhedral mutual potential and potential derivatives approach

Herein we investigate the coupled orbital and rotational dynamics of two rigid bodies modelled as polyhedra, under the influence of their mutual gravitational potential. The bodies may possess any arbitrary shape and mass distribution. A method of calculating the mutual potential’s derivatives with respect to relative position and attitude is derived. Relative equations of motion for the two body system are presented and an implementation of the equations of motion with the potential gradients approach is described. Results obtained with this dynamic simulation software package are presented for multiple cases to validate the approach and illustrate its utility. This simulation capability is useful both for addressing questions in dynamical astronomy and for enabling spacecraft missions to binary asteroid systems.     

Equations of motion of elliptically-restricted problem of a body with variable mass and two tri-axial bodies

The differential equations of motion of the elliptic restricted problem of three bodies, an infinitesimal spherical body with decreasing mass and two tri-axial bodies are derived. We have applied Jeans's law and the space-time of Meshcherskii in the special case whenn=1,k=0,q=1/2. Also Nechvíle's transformation for the elliptic problem be applied for this case.     

The mutual potential and gravitational torques of two bodies to fourth order

The mutual gravitational potential of two bodies of arbitrary shape is expressed to fourth order in an extension of MacCullagh's Formula for a single body. The expressions for the gravitational torques acting on each body are derived in a form convenient for use in the differential equations describing the rotational dynamics.     

The restricted problem of three bodies with rigid dumb-bell satellite

This paper is concerned with an extension of the classical restricted problem of three bodies in three dimensions. Usually, the satellite is considered to be a point mass. Here, the satellite is assumed to have a simple structure. The equations of motion are obtained and some of their consequences are discussed.     

The libration points of axisymmetric satellite in the gravitation field of two triaxial rigid bodies

In this paper we consider the restricted problem of three rigid bodies (an axisymmetric satellite in the gravitation field of two triaxial primaries). The collinear and triangular equilibrium solutions are obtained. The effect of the primaries on the location of the libration points of a spherical satellite has been studied numerically.     

On the stability of dual-spin bodies with unbalancing mass

This paper contains a straight-forward spin stability analysis of a composite body composed of a platform, rotor and unbalancing mass. The system is considered to be in a torque-free environment. The stability region for the high spin rotor system is obtained from the linearized momentum equation by the method of first variation. This research is supported by Arizona State University Faculty Grant-In-Aid.     

Central configurations of four bodies with one inferior mass

The number of equivalence classes of central configurations (abbr. c.c.) in the planar 4-body problem with three arbitrary and a fourth small mass is investigated. These c.c. are derived according to their generic origin in the 3-body problem. It is shown that each 3-body collinear c.c. generates exactly 2 non-collinear c.c. (besides 4 collinear ones) of 4 bodies with smallm ₄0; and that any 3-body equilateral triangle c.c. generates exactly 8 or 9 or 10 (depending onm ₁,m ₂,m ₃) planar 4-body c.c. withm ₄=0. Further, every one of these c.c. can be continued uniquely to sufficiently smallm ₄>0 except when there are just 9; then exactly one of them is degenerate, and we conjecture that it is not continuable tom ₄>0.Paper presented at the 1981 Oberwolfach Conference on Mathematical Methods in Celestial Mechanics.     

Recursive computation of mutual potential between two polyhedra

Recursive computation of mutual potential, force, and torque between two polyhedra is studied. Based on formulations by Werner and Scheeres (Celest Mech Dyn Astron 91:337–349, 2005) and Fahnestock and Scheeres (Celest Mech Dyn Astron 96:317–339, 2006) who applied the Legendre polynomial expansion to gravity interactions and expressed each order term by a shape-dependent part and a shape-independent part, this paper generalizes the computation of each order term, giving recursive relations of the shape-dependent part. To consider the potential, force, and torque, we introduce three tensors. This method is applicable to any multi-body systems. Finally, we implement this recursive computation to simulate the dynamics of a two rigid-body system that consists of two equal-sized parallelepipeds.     

Different responses to intruder between spirals with live and rigid haloes

We discuss the different dynamical effects of spirals with live and rigid haloes in collisions. Our N-body simulation has 52000 particles. The target is a self-consistent three-dimensional system consisting of a disk and a live halo, the intruder galaxy has a fixed Plummer potential and moves in a straight line through the centre of the target in the plane of the disk. For comparison, the same numerical experiment is made with a rigid halo, all other conditions remaining the same. Differences in the dynamical response and the resulting morphology between the two cases are discussed. It is suggested that the torque on non-axial symmetric spirals exerted by triaxial haloes and the long term effect of dynamical friction of the halo should be further investigated.