Interplanetary Trajectory Design using Dynamical Systems Theory

Instead of the two-body problem commonly used in interplanetary trajectory design, also three bodies can be considered: the satellite, a planet and the Sun. Knowing that planet and Sun orbit one another in almost circular orbits, and the mass of the satellite is negligible compared to the mass of these bodies, the model of the circular...

Weak capture and the weak stability boundary: An investigation into the restricted problem of three bodies

Weak capture in the restricted problem of three bodies refers to transitory motion between the primaries. Such behavior has interesting applications in space mission design, notably, in finding optimal transfer trajectories that surpass the performance of traditional Hohmann transfers. The Weak Stability Boundary (WSB) is a mathematical set that...