Developing the “Precessing Inclined Bi-Elliptical Four-Body Problem with Radiation Pressure” to search for orbits in the triple asteroid 2001SN263

Abstract

Space missions to visit small bodies of the Solar System are important steps to improve our knowledge of the Solar System. Usually those bodies do not have well known characteristics, as their gravity field, which make the mission planning a difficult task. The present paper has the goal of studying orbits around the triple asteroid 2001SN263, a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA). A mission to this system allows the exploration of three bodies in the same trip. The distances reached by the spacecraft from those three bodies have fundamental importance in the quality of their observations. Therefore, the present research has two main goals: (i) to develop a semi-analytical mathematical model, which is simple, but able to represent the main characteristics of that system; (ii) to use this model to find orbits for a spacecraft with the goal of remaining the maximum possible time near the three bodies of the system, without the need of space maneuvers. This model is called “Precessing Inclined Bi-Elliptical Problem with Radiation Pressure” (PIBEPRP). The use of this model allow us to find important natural orbits for the exploration of one, two or even the three bodies of the system. These trajectories can be used individually or combined in two or more parts using orbital maneuvers.