Stationkeeping Analysis for Solar Sailing the Region of Binary Asteroid Systems

Abstract

Asteroid exploration may largely benefit from solar-sail propulsion that is coupled with satellite miniaturization. There remain, however, several open questions on sail dynamics in the vicinity of small bodies. One such question is the feasibility of solar-sail missions within binary asteroid systems from the perspective of orbit maintenance. Although sail transfer trajectories to small bodies are often discussed, more work is necessary to understand sail stationkeeping dynamics in such environments. This work focuses on solar-sail stationkeeping in the region of binary asteroids within a modified elliptic restricted three-body problem. Quasi-periodic orbits and Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theory are employed to construct reference solutions that are naturally bounded and therefore facilitate orbit maintenance. Reference quasi-periodic behaviors may reflect the characteristics of motion within higher-fidelity models more accurately than purely periodic or equilibrium baseline solutions. Then, a turn-and-hold stationkeeping strategy is implemented to offset orbit determination errors, and stationkeeping parameters are investigated. Using the Didymos binary asteroid system as a representative case study, dynamical reference structures for sail trajectories are explored. Additionally, conditions for their controllability are also discussed. Insight from this analysis is applicable to other binary asteroid systems.