Equilibria in an accelerated three-body problem

McInnes, C. R. (2023) Equilibria in an accelerated three-body problem. Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 135(6), 55. (doi: 10.1007/s10569-023-10166-z)

Abstract

The general three-body problem is investigated with the addition of a fixed external force applied to one of the masses. It is firstly demonstrated that the centre-of-mass of the three-body system accelerates. Then, it is demonstrated that only a single, unstable, collinear equilibrium solution exits in the accelerating frame. While unstable, it is also demonstrated that this single equilibrium configuration is in principle controllable using additional control accelerations distributed between the masses. Potential applications of such an accelerated collinear equilibrium configuration are discussed for the active manoeuvring of chains of small asteroids for space resource utilisation.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Chair in Emerging Technologies scheme.
• Keywords: Three-body problem, equilibria, stability.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McInnes, Professor Colin
• Authors: McInnes, C. R.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0923-2958
• ISSN (Online): 1572-9478
• Published Online: 06 November 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author
• First Published: First published in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy 135(6): 55
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
306654		Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies	Colin McInnes	Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE)	CIET1819\TUA\15	ENG - Systems Power & Energy