Cell-mapping orbit search for mission design at ocean worlds using parallel computing

Abstract

A cell-mapping approach is implemented and parallelized to analyze three-body problem orbits in the vicinity of icy moons (Europa and Enceladus). The cell-mapping method is developed for studying nonlinear dynamics with periodic motions. The method does not require previously known solutions as inputs, which is an essential requirement of continuation approaches, and does not impose symmetric constraints. As major strengths of the method, multiple-period periodic solutions and bifurcation studies can be easily performed. This method is especially applicable to a systematic periodic orbit search over a region of interest using an integration time of one period. The parallelized cell-mapping method facilitates a rapid understanding of the global dynamics.