Editorial: Astrodynamics, guidance, navigation and control in chaotic multi-body environments

Abstract

Modern space missions are frequently targeted towards new and unexplored regions of space, such as the region between the Earth and the Moon, which is denoted as the Cislunar space (NASA, 2020; International Space Exploration Coordination Group – ISECG, 2018); binary asteroid systems (Rivkin et al., 2021); comets and other irregularly shaped celestial objects; satellites of other Solar system planets. In all of these mission scenarios, the spacecraft dynamics is governed by an intriguing, yet complex and chaotic dynamical environment that is driven by the presence of multiple and/or non-spherical massive bodies. The gravitational influence of these objects shall be addressed with methods and techniques that are different from the standard Keplerian tools available in the classic Two-Body Problem. In recent years, the space community has shown a renovated scientific and technological interest in mastering the multi-body nonKeplerian astrodynamics for practical applications. Immediately, new technological and engineering challenges emerged in order to cope with this uninvestigated portion of outer space. In particular, the Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) and the Propulsive subsystems developments have been strongly supportive of this endeavor. Future lunar and solar system exploration missions will be supported by a complex infrastructure of space systems orbiting in multi-body regions and influenced by chaotic dynamics (Whitley and Martinez, 2016). They will guarantee continuous human and robotic presence well beyond Earth orbits, broadcast of communication relay networks, Solar system exploration and advanced navigation systems. This new space race demands the upgrade of consolidated space technologies to handle the unique features of multi-body environments, by OPEN ACCESS