1. Orbital Perturbations

Abstract: A continuation to the summer project, Space: The Final Frontier. Spacecraft control and maneuver as well as accurate mapping of trajectories of asteroids require precision tracking of their movement in space. While their orbits can be calculated relatively easily by only considering the major forces being applied on the body, over time the minor forces build up resulting in a completely different orbit. Hence, in order to accurately predict their movement, these “perturbations” need to be taken into account as well. Perturbations can have both positive and negative effects. A well defined coordinate system eases the process of calculating the perturbing forces and how can we use it to our advantage. Further, we delve into Newton’s n-body problem by running a simulation of stable pereodic orbits of 3 equal bodied masses and Lagrange points ending with a casae study of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Expected Workload: 2 hr/week

Students Involved:

• Adit Jain
• Atharva Dehadraya
• Shashank Sinha
• Shashank Rapolu
• Vasu Palival
• Yashika Malhotra

Resources: Handbook