Influence of apophis’ spin axis variations on a spacecraft during the 2029 close approach with earth

Tumbling asteroids belong to a group of objects, whose angular velocity vector is unaligned with any of its principal axes of inertia. This rotation state leads to challenges when modelling a spacecraft's orbit around these bodies. In this work, we refine a previous study on this topic, concern...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Aljbaae, Safwan, Souchay, Jean, Carruba, Valerio [UNESP], Sanchez, Diogo M., Prado, Antonio F. B. A.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UNESP
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unesp.br:11449/237933
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11449/237933
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Celestial Mechanics
Dynamical astronomy
Minor planets
Asteroids: individual (Apophis)
Descripción
Sumario:Tumbling asteroids belong to a group of objects, whose angular velocity vector is unaligned with any of its principal axes of inertia. This rotation state leads to challenges when modelling a spacecraft's orbit around these bodies. In this work, we refine a previous study on this topic, concerning asteroid (99942) Apophis during its close encounter with the Earth in 2029. We analyze the orbital behaviour of a spacecraft orbiting the asteroid during this event by including the effects of the changes of orientation of the spin axis of the asteroid, depending on two sets of initial conditions. We analyze the global dynamics of the spacecraft around the target using three approaches, MEGNO, PMap, and Time-Series prediction. We limited our work on the equatorial plan choosing critical initial conditions of the span orientation of the target. We confirm that no spacecraft with natural orbits (orbits without control) could survive the high perturbations caused by the close encounter with our planet.