7 papers
Low-Energy Round-Trip Trajectories to Near-Earth Objects using Low Thrust
Alessandro Beolchi, Mauro Pontani, Kathleen Howell +3
Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are attractive exploration targets due to their accessibility, scientific value, and resources. Although trajectory design has revealed efficient pathways…
Low-Energy and Low-Thrust Exploration Tour of Saturnian Moons with Full Lunar Surface Coverage
Chiara Pozzi, Mauro Pontani, Alessandro Beolchi +2
This study presents the trajectory design for a mission touring Saturn's Inner Large Moons (Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, and Mimas) engineered to meet observational requirements…
Uncontrolled geostationary satellites: mapping periodic transitions to chaos with Lagrangian Descriptors
Roberto Flores, Jerome Daquin, Mauro Pontani +2
Uncontrolled geostationary satellites abandoned near an unstable equilibrium point of the equator experience irregular transitions between dynamical states (continuous circulation,…
Design of a low-thrust gravity-assisted rendezvous trajectory to Halley's comet
Roberto Flores, Alessandro Beolchi, Elena Fantino +4
Comets are the most pristine planetesimals left from the formation of the Solar System. They carry unique information on the materials and the physical processes which led to the p…
Optimal Low-Thrust Orbit Transfers Connecting Gateway with Earth and Moon
Chiara Pozzi, Mauro Pontani, Alessandro Beolchi +1
Gateway will represent a primary logistic infrastructure in cislunar space. The identification of efficient orbit transfers capable of connecting Earth, Moon, and Gateway paves the…
Multiple-arc optimization of low-thrust earth-moon orbit transfers leveraging implicit costate transformation
Alessandro Beolchi, Mauro Pontani, Chiara Pozzi +1
This work focuses on minimum-time low-thrust orbit transfers from a prescribed low Earth orbit to a specified low lunar orbit. The well-established indirect formulation of minimum-…