Design of Ganymede-Synchronous Frozen Orbit around Europa

Xuxing Huang, Bin Yang, Shuang Li (), Jinglang Feng and Josep J. Masdemont
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Xuxing Huang: College of Astronautics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Bin Yang: College of Astronautics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Shuang Li: College of Astronautics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Jinglang Feng: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK
Josep J. Masdemont: IEEC & Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Mathematics, 2022, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: A Ganymede-synchronous frozen orbit around Europa provides a stable spatial geometry between a Europa probe and a Ganymede lander, which facilitates the observation of Ganymede and data transmission between probes. However, the third-body gravitation perturbation of Ganymede continues to accumulate and affect the long-term evolution of the Europa probe. In this paper, the relative orbit of Ganymede with respect to Europa is considered to accurately capture the perturbation potential. The orbital evolution behaviors of the Europa probe under the non-spherical gravitation of Europa and the third-body gravitation of Jupiter and Ganymede are studied based on a double-averaging framework. Then, the initial orbital conditions of the Ganymede-synchronous frozen orbit are developed. A station-keeping maneuver was performed to maintain the orbital elements to achieve the Ganymede-synchronous and frozen behaviors. A numerical simulation showed that the consumption for orbital maintenance is acceptable.

Keywords: Jovian system; Ganymede-synchronous orbit; frozen orbit; Europa probe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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