The Effect of Radiation Pressure on the Restricted Three-body Problem

Abstract

The classical restricted three-body problem is generalized to include the force of radiation pressure and the Poynting-Robertson effect. The positions of the Lagrangian points L4and L5are found as functions of β, the ratio of radiational to gravitational forces. The Poynting-Robertson effect renders the L4and L5points unstable on a time scale (T) long compared to the period of rotation of the two massive bodies. For the solar system, T is given by T = [(1-β)2/3/β] 544 a2yr where a is the separation between the Sun and the planet in AU. Implications for space colonization and a mechanism for producing asymmetries in the interplanetary dust complex are discussed; testing the latter may be possible from the Zodiacal Light/Background Starlight Experiment aboard the International Solar Polar Mission spacecraft to be launched in 1983.