Chaotic transport of navigation satellites [EPA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1909.11531


Navigation satellites are known from numerical studies to reside in a dynamically sensitive environment, which may be of profound importance for their long-term sustainability. We derive the fundamental Hamiltonian of GNSS dynamics and show analytically that near-circular trajectories lie in the neighborhood of a Normally Hyperbolic Invariant Manifold (NHIM), which is the primary source of hyperbolicity. Quasi-circular orbits escape through chaotic transport, regulated by the NHIM’s stable and unstable manifolds, following a power-law escape time distribution $P(t) \sim t^{-\alpha}$, with $\alpha \sim 0.8 – 1.5$. Our study is highly relevant for the design of satellite disposal trajectories, using manifold dynamics.

Read this paper on arXiv…

I. Gkolias, J. Daquin, D. Skoulidou, et. al.
Thu, 26 Sep 19
23/61

Comments: Accepted for publication in Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science