Orbital dynamics about a slowly rotating asteroid

Details Orbital dynamics about a slowly rotating asteroid Orbital dynamics about a slowly rotating asteroid

Apr 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002georl..29h..94h&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 29, Issue 8, pp. 94-1, CiteID 1253, DOI 10.1029/2001GL014374

Physics

Planetology: Comets And Small Bodies: Gravitational Fields, Planetology: Comets And Small Bodies: Orbital And Rotational Dynamics, Planetology: Solar System Objects: Asteroids And Meteoroids

Scientific paper

We analyze orbital stability of satellites (moonlet, spacecraft) near a slowly rotating axisymmetric asteroid. Using simple point mass models as a guide, we discover an unstable region near the equatorial plane of an indented asteroid. The existence of stable/unstable regions is confirmed numerically for a realistic ``peanut'' model asteroid. The stable region is found to survive small asteroidal rotation about an axis of maximum moment of inertia. A simple semi-empirical formula is found for the orbital tilt angle as a function of asteroid rotation speed. Implications for motion about realistic asteroids are discussed.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Orbital dynamics about a slowly rotating asteroid does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Orbital dynamics about a slowly rotating asteroid, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Orbital dynamics about a slowly rotating asteroid will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-842905