Abstract
For the exploration of asteroids, especially those with small masses, there are several options for the probe: flybying the asteroid, becoming a satellite of the asteroid, or formation flying with the asteroid. This study focuses on the last two kinds of orbits. For the circulate orbit, the model of the asteroid’s gravity field is an important issue. Difficulties will be encountered when constructing the analytical solutions to the circulate orbits. Two kinds of formation flying orbits are considered in this study: (1) around the collinear libration points (CLPs) of the Sun-asteroid system, and (2) directly around the asteroid itself. The asteroid Apophis is used as an example throughout the paper. For the first formation flying strategy, the operation orbits (Lissajous orbits and halo orbits) around the CLP L1 are firstly constructed in the circular restricted three-body problem (CRTBP), and then generalized to the real force model. For the second formation flying strategy, the operation orbits are firstly constructed using the well-known C-W equation, and then also generalized to the real force model, where the asteroid’s true orbit and the solar radiation pressure (SRP) are considered. Studies in this work may be used as references for future asteroid missions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Miller JK et al (2002) Determination of shape, gravity, and rotational state of asteroid 433 Eros. Icarus 155(1):3–17
Saito J et al (2006) Detailed images of asteroid 25143 Itokawa from Hayabusa. Science 312(5778):1341–1344
Werner RA, Scheeres DJ. Exterior gravitation of a polyhedron derived and compared with harmonic and mascon gravitation representations of asteroid 4769 Castalia. Celestial Mech Dyn Astron 65(3):313–344
Scheeres DJ (1994) Dynamics about uniformly rotating triaxial ellipsoids: applications to asteroids. Icarus 110(2):225–238
Scheeres DJ et al (1996) Orbits close to asteroid 4769 Castalia. Icarus 121(1):67–87
Scheeres DJ et al (1996) Dynamics of orbits close to asteroid 4179 Toutatis. Icarus 132(1):53–79
Liu L (2000) Orbit theory of spacecraft. Defense industry press, Beijing
Zhang Q, Liu L (1999) On the binary star system of geostationary satellites. J Nanjing Univ 35:7–13
Liu L, Hou XY (2012) Deep space spacecraft orbit dynamics. Publishing House of Electronics Industry, Beijing
Jorba A, Masdemont J (1999) Dynamics in the center manifold of the collinear points of the restricted three body problem. Phys D: Nonlinear Phenom 132(1):189–213
Richardson DL (1980) Analytic construction of periodic orbits about the collinear points. Celest Mech 22(3):241–253
Kim M (2001) Periodic spacecraft orbits for future space-based deep space observations. Technical report, Vienna Institute of Technology, Vienna
Liu L, Wang HH, Ma JB (2004) On the formation flying of satellite constellations. Chin Astron Astrophys 28(2):188–199
Clohessy WH (1960) Terminal guidance system for satellite rendezvous. J Aerosp Sci 27:653–658
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Xin, X., Liu, L., Yu, S. (2015). Operation Orbit Options for Asteroid Explorations. In: Shen, R., Qian, W. (eds) Proceedings of the 27th Conference of Spacecraft TT&C Technology in China. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 323. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44687-4_34
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44687-4_34
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-44686-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-44687-4
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)