Difference between revisions of "Artificial Lagrange Orbits"

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When a planet orbits a star, or a moon orbits a planet, there are [[wikipedia:Lagrange points|Lagrange points]] where gravity and centrifugal acceleration (from the smaller body's orbital motion) are in equilibrium. Spacecraft and natural objects, like asteroids, may orbit these points. The thrust of a solar sail can change where equilibrium is reached, and where a spacecraft can orbit. These new artificial Lagrange orbits (ALO) enable a unique perspective for a variety of applications.
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When a planet orbits a star, or a moon orbits a planet, there are [[wikipedia:Lagrange points|Lagrange points]] where gravity and centrifugal acceleration from the smaller body's orbital motion balance. Spacecraft and natural objects, like asteroids, may orbit these points. The thrust of a solar sail can change the location of the balance point, and where a spacecraft can orbit. These new artificial Lagrange orbits (ALOs) enable a unique perspective for a variety of applications.
  
 
==Planetary Artificial Lagrange Orbits==
 
==Planetary Artificial Lagrange Orbits==
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==Lunar Artificial Lagrange Orbits==
 
==Lunar Artificial Lagrange Orbits==
Solar sails enabled periodic orbits displaced from the natural Lunar lagrange points.
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Solar sails enable periodic orbits displaced from the natural Lunar lagrange points.
 
<cite>McInnes1999:Simoetal2008:Simoetal2009:Simoetal2009b</cite>
 
<cite>McInnes1999:Simoetal2008:Simoetal2009:Simoetal2009b</cite>
  

Revision as of 15:41, 17 September 2009

When a planet orbits a star, or a moon orbits a planet, there are Lagrange points where gravity and centrifugal acceleration from the smaller body's orbital motion balance. Spacecraft and natural objects, like asteroids, may orbit these points. The thrust of a solar sail can change the location of the balance point, and where a spacecraft can orbit. These new artificial Lagrange orbits (ALOs) enable a unique perspective for a variety of applications.

Contents

Planetary Artificial Lagrange Orbits

Solar sails enable periodic orbits displaced from the natural Sun-planet Lagrange points. [1]

Lunar Artificial Lagrange Orbits

Solar sails enable periodic orbits displaced from the natural Lunar lagrange points. [1, 2, 3, 4]

See Also

References

  1. McInnes, Colin R. Solar Sailing. Springer-Praxis, Chichester, UK, 1999. BibTeX [McInnes1999]
  2. Simo, J and McInnes, C R. Solar sail trajectories at the Earth-Moon Lagrange points. 59th International Astronautical Congress (IAC'08), 29 Sep - 3 Oct 2008, Glasgow, Scotland , 2008. BibTeX [Simoetal2008]
  3. Simo, Jules and McInnes, Colin R. Solar sail orbits at the Earth-Moon libration points. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation 14(12):4191 - 4196, 2009. BibTeX [Simoetal2009]
  4. Simo, J and McInnes, C R. Asymptotic analysis of displaced lunar orbits. Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics 32(5):1666-1671, 2009. BibTeX [Simoetal2009b]
Reference library: BibTeX