Abstract
Heteroclinic connections represent unique opportunities for spacecraft to transfer between isoenergetic libration point orbits for zero deterministic ΔV expenditure. However, methods of detecting them can be limited, typically relying on human-in-the-loop or computationally intensive processes. In this paper we present a rapid and fully systematic method of detecting heteroclinic connections between quasi-periodic invariant tori by exploiting topological invariants found in knot theory. The approach is applied to the Earth–Moon, Sun–Earth, and Jupiter–Ganymede circular restricted three-body problems to demonstrate the robustness of this method in detecting heteroclinic connections between various quasi-periodic orbit families in restricted astrodynamical problems.
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Danny Owen is a Ph.D. candidate at the Surrey Space Centre. He received his bachelor degree in physics with planetary science from the University of Leicester and his master degree in space engineering from the University of Surrey. His research interests include application of dynamical system theory to multi-body regimes and multi-parameter continuation methods.
Nicola Baresi graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a Ph.D. degree in astrodynamics and satellite navigation systems. He was later employed at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), working on small and large scale satellite missions to the Moon and Mars. Since 2019, he has joined the University of Surrey, where he is now a lecturer in orbital mechanics at the Surrey Space Centre.
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Owen, D., Baresi, N. Applications of knot theory to the detection of heteroclinic connections between quasi-periodic orbits. Astrodyn (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-024-0201-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-024-0201-0