Quasi-periodic invariant tori and retrieval of Near-Earth Asteroids using low-energy trajectories

Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) have attracted the attention of the scientific community in the last few years. Not only because of their importance to life on Earth but also their scientific potential and possible economic returns. This work explores the use of quasi-periodic orbits to bound the motion of NEAs close to the Earth’s vicinity for...

Low-energy transfers from GTO to lunar Halo orbits: rideshare options and sensitivities

In this research project, the design of a smallsat mission to a Halo orbit around the Earth-Moon second libration point (EML-2) using a rideshare launch opportunity to an inclined geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) was investigated. <br/>The design leverages classical results from Dynamical Systems Theory (DST) to determine low-energy transfers...

A flow-informed strategy for ballistic capture trajectory design

In interplanetary mission design, ballistic capture is the phenomenon by which a spacecraft approaches its target body, and performs a number of revolutions around it, without requiring manoeuvres in between. For a spacecraft to be captured, its gravitational interaction with at least two celestial bodies has to be taken into account. Because of...

Combinations of Low Energy Trajectories for a Lunar L2 mission

Measurements in the frequency range below 30 MHz, key to a better understanding of the origins of our universe, are one of the last unexplored areas of radio astronomy. Low frequency measurements suffer greatly from disturbance from man-made signals. Therefore, satellite missions are proposed which use the Moon as a shield from these...

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...