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BepiColombo gravitational capture and the elliptic restricted three‐body problem
Author(s) -
Campagnola Stefano,
Lo Martin
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
pamm
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1617-7061
DOI - 10.1002/pamm.200700330
Subject(s) - gravitation , invariant (physics) , orbit (dynamics) , computer science , eccentricity (behavior) , trajectory , physics , planet , mathematics , aerospace engineering , classical mechanics , mathematical physics , astronomy , engineering , political science , law
This paper shows how the BepiColombo trajectory near Mercury follows the invariant manifolds to its final capture. The BepiColombo gravitational capture provides several recovery opportunities at nominal conditions and was designed by exploring the solution space entirely, without knowledge of the invariant manifolds. In this work we reproduced the trajectory in the model of the elliptic restricted three body‐ problem (due to the high eccentricity of Mercury's orbit) and showed that it does follow the manifolds. Consequently we envision that manifolds should be used to give insight on the solution space, speeding up the design and optimization process and there by saving cost. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)