Orbital flips due to solar radiation pressure for space debris in near-circular orbits

Direct solar radiation pressure on the orbits of small near–Earth asteroids: observable effects?

We consider the perturbations of Near–Earth Asteroid orbits due to direct solar radiation pressure (both the absorption and the reflection components). When the body is spherical and the surface albedo homogeneous the effect is small (and only short–periodic). However, when at least one of these restrictive and unrealistic assumptions is relaxed, long–term orbital effects appear and they may po...

Orbital phasing of satellites on circular orbits

Active Orbital Debris Removal Using Space Robotics

One of the main technical challenge in orbital debris removal (ODR) missions is how to capture a tumbling and drifting space object given several environmental and operational constraints. This paper focuses on the guidance of a robot manipulator in a preand postgrasp phases to capture and stabilize a drifting and tumbling space object with uncertain dynamics. A Kalman filter is used to estimat...

Orbital Stability Zones about Asteroids II. The Destabilizing Effects of Eccentric Orbits and of Solar Radiation

The gravitational effects of the Sun on a particle orbiting another massive body which itself moves on a circular path around the Sun have been studied extensively. Most recently, D. P. Hamilton and J. A. Burns (1991, Zcarus 92, 118-131) characterized the size and shape of a stability zone around an asteroid on a circular heliocentric orbit within which material could remain bound for an extend...

Macroscopic thermal entanglement due to radiation pressure.

Can entanglement and the quantum behavior in physical systems survive at arbitrary high temperatures? In this Letter we show that this is the case for a electromagnetic field mode in an optical cavity with a movable mirror in a thermal state. We also identify two different dynamical regimes of generation of entanglement separated by a critical coupling strength.