Cislunar orbit dynamics with an application to space situational awareness

Abstract

Given the growing number of planned missions and satellite launches, it is clear the cislunar orbital domain gained great interest from both industries and space agencies in the last few years. The chaotic dynamics that characterise this area of space set new challenges that have not been considered for near-Earth space. An increasing number of space objects orbiting in the chaotic cislunar domain could lead to a more complex debris problem than is found near-Earth today, making the design of effective End-of-Life (EoL) disposal strategies more important than ever. This Ph.D. research aims to develop a dynamic cartography of cislunar space through tools derived from dynamical systems theory. Thus, it will be possible to characterise the long-term stability of different families of orbits in cislunar space, creating a catalogue of stable and unstable orbits; to develop a tool to define effective and customisable EoL strategies; and to analyse the behaviour of possible fragmentations in the cislunar domain.