"Periodic orbits in the Chermnykh problem" by Xiangyuan Zeng and Kyle T. Alfriend

Article Title

Periodic orbits in the Chermnykh problem

Authors

Xiangyuan Zeng, School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Kyle T. Alfriend, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77840, USA

Keywords

periodic orbits, the Chermnykh problem, topological transition, iso-energetic continuation

Abstract

Periodic orbits in irregular gravitational fields are significant for an understanding ofdynamical behaviors around asteroids as well as the engineering aspect for deep spaceexplorations. The rotating mass dipole, referred to as the Chermnykh problem, is a goodalternative model to study qualitative dynamical environments near elongated asteroids,like the asteroid 1620 Geographos, 216 Kleopatra, or 25143 Itokawa. In this paper aglobal searching method is adopted to search for periodic orbits around the dipole modelbased on the concept of Poincaré section of surface. Representative families of periodicorbits are illustrated with respect to all three topological cases of the dipole model.Topological transitions of orbits during iso-energetic continuations are also presented aswell as identification of new types of periodic orbits.