Preliminary investigation of planar Sun-Ceres trajectories in variable restricted dynamical models

Abstract

Excerpt: The dwarf planet Ceres is the largest body in the Asteroid Belt and represents a key destination for planetary science missions seeking to understand the evolution of small bodies. Due to its location on the boundary between the inner and outer planets of the Solar System, Ceres could become a lucrative base camp location for asteroid mining and surveying operations, or a way-station for outer planet missions. This paper, for the first time in literature, presents 93 unique planar periodic and quasi-periodic orbits discovered in the Sun-Ceres system that may be employed for Ceres-focused missions. The Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP) and Circular Restricted N-Body Problem (CRNBP) are used as the primary dynamical models for orbit generation