Physics – Geophysics
Scientific paper
Dec 1970
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1970papge..79....5m&link_type=abstract
Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH, Volume 79, Issue 1, pp.5-13
Physics
Geophysics
1
Scientific paper
Apollo close lunar orbits have exhibited pronounced and unpredicted irregularities in successive passes over the near side of the Moon. Recently detected large mass concentrations (mascons) beneath the lunar surface are suspected to be the cause, but the lack of accurate values of a multitude of higher gravity harmonics precludes precise orbital corrections by standard methods. Estimates of orbital variations generated by an isolated mascon are obtained in this paper by a direct short-arc perturbation technique suggested by d'Alembert's comet swingby calculation. Each mascon ‘encounter’ provides an abrupt decrease of flight path angle, seen as a kink in the nominal orbit, expressible in terms of the nominal orbital motion and the mascon characteristics. Multiple mascon perturbations are found by superposition, leading to criteria for minimizing the navigational hazards presented by mascon lumpiness of the Moon's structure. It is noted that Lagrange found an integral of the equations of motion of a particle attracted to two fixed centers, of which the present problem is a special case, but his method did not lead to direct physical interpretations.
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