Low-thrust propulsion in a coplanar circular restricted four body problem |
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Authors: | Marta Ceccaroni James Biggs |
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Institution: | (1) Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK |
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Abstract: | This paper formulates a circular restricted four body problem (CRFBP), where the three primaries are set in the stable Lagrangian
equilateral triangle configuration and the fourth body is massless. The analysis of this autonomous coplanar CRFBP is undertaken,
which identifies eight natural equilibria; four of which are close to the smaller body, two stable and two unstable, when
considering the primaries to be the Sun and two smaller bodies of the Solar System. Following this, the model incorporates
‘near term’ low-thrust propulsion capabilities to generate surfaces of artificial equilibrium points close to the smaller
primary, both in and out of the plane containing the celestial bodies. A stability analysis of these points is carried out
and a stable subset of them is identified. Throughout the analysis the Sun-Jupiter-asteroid-spacecraft system is used, for
conceivable masses of a hypothetical asteroid set at the libration point L
4. It is shown that eight bounded orbits exist, which can be maintained with a constant thrust less than 1.5 × 10−4 N for a 1000 kg spacecraft. This illustrates that, by exploiting low-thrust technologies, it would be possible to maintain
an observation point more than 66% closer to the asteroid than that of a stable natural equilibrium point. The analysis then
focusses on a major Jupiter Trojan: the (624) Hektor asteroid. The thrust required to enable close asteroid observation is
determined in the simplified CRFBP model. Finally, a numerical simulation of the real Sun-Jupiter-(624) Hektor-spacecraft
is undertaken, which tests the validity of the stability analysis of the simplified model. |
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