Abstract
The present paper has the goal of studying close approaches between a planet and a group of particles. The mathematical model includes the presence of the atmosphere of the planet. This cloud is assumed to be created by the passage of the spacecraft in the atmosphere of the planet, which can cause the explosion of the spacecraft. The system is assumed to be formed by the Sun, the planet, and the spacecraft that explodes and becomes a cloud of particles. The Sun and the planet are assumed to be in circular orbits and the motion is planar. The equations of motion are the ones given by the circular planar restricted three-body problem combined with the forces given by the atmospheric drag. In the numerical simulations, the planet Jupiter is the celestial body used for the close approaches. The initial positions and velocities of the spacecraft and the particles are specified at the periapsis, because it is assumed that this is the point where the explosion occurs.
Highlights
The close approach between a spacecraft and a celestial body received a lot of attention in the literature related to the astrodynamics field
The Voyager mission visited several planets of the Solar System gaining energy from successive close approaches [1,2,3,4]. Other applications of this maneuver are available in the literature, like: the use of Swing-Bys in the inner Solar System to send a spacecraft to the giant planets [5] or even to the Sun [6]; the use of Venus in a trip to Mars [7, 8]; studies to make a three-dimensional close approach to Jupiter to change the orbital plane of the spacecraft [9]; use of one [10] or two [11] passages by the Moon to increase the energy of the spacecraft; the use of multiple passages by the secondary body to find trajectories linking the primaries [12] or the Lagrangian points [13, 14]
The main goal of the present research is to map the change of the orbits of the particles that form the cloud after the close approach with the planet
Summary
The close approach between a spacecraft and a celestial body received a lot of attention in the literature related to the astrodynamics field. Several missions used this idea to save fuel in their maneuvers. The eccentricity of the primaries was included in some researches, like in reference [22]
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