Three-Body Problem
• No analytical solution
• Numerical solutions can be chaotic
• Usual simplification
- restricted: the third body has negligible mass
- circular: the primaries are in circular orbits
• A suitable reference frame rotates about the center of
mass with the angular velocity of the primaries
• Equation of motion in the restricted problem
d 2r d M1 M2
2 2 v R r
dv
r G 3 r1 3 r2
dt B dt dt B r
R 1 r2
Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem
• The angular velocity is assumed to be constant
r G M1 r M2 r r 2 r
r3 1 r3 2
1 2
(dots indicate time-derivatives in the rotating frame)
• The gravitational and centrifugal accelerations can be
written as the gradient of the potential function
M1 M2 1 2 2
U G r
r1 r2 2
• The equation of motion of the third body becomes
r U 2 r
Lagrangian Libration Points
• The circular restricted three-body problem has five
stationary solutions ( r r 0 )
• Three are collinear with the primaries and are unstable
(stable in the plane normal to the line of the primaries)
• Two are located 60 degrees ahead of and behind the
smaller mass in its orbit about the larger mass
For sufficiently small mass ratio of the primaries, these
triangular equilibrium points are stable
Perturbations may change this scenario
• A spacecraft can orbit around the Lagrangian points
with modest fuel expenditure, as the sum of the external
actions is close to zero
Lagrangian Libration Points
Use of Lagrangian Points
• Quasi-periodic not-perfectly-stable orbits in the plane
perpendicular to the line of the primaries have been used
around Sun-Earth L1 and L2 (halo or Lissajous orbits)
• The Sun–Earth L1 is ideal for observation of the Sun
(SOHO, ACE, Genesis, etc.)
• The Sun–Earth L2 offers an exceptionally favorable
environment for a space-based observatory
(WMAP, James Webb Space Telescope, etc.
• The L3 point seems to be useless
• L4 and L5 points collect asteroids and dust clouds
Jacobi’s Integral
• Dot product of the equation of motion with r gives
r r r U 2 r r r U 2 r r r U
• The potential is not an explicit function of time and
U dx U dy U dz dU
r U
x d t y d t z d t dt
• After substitution one obtains the Jacobi’s integral
r r r U r r U 0 v 2 2U C
• The specific energy of the third body in its motion relative
to the rotating frame has the constant value
Non-dimensional equations
• The equations are made non-dimensional by means of
M1 M2
M1 M2 R1 R2 G
R1 R2
for masses, distances, and velocities, respectively
• The non-dimensional masses of the primaries are
M2 M1
1
M1 M2 M1 M2
• The non-dimensional potential is written as
1 x2 y 2
U
r1 r2 2
r1 x 2 y 2 z2 r2 1 x 2 y 2 z2
Surfaces of Zero Velocity
• The potential U is a function only of the position
• The surfaces corresponding to a constant value C’=-2U
are called surfaces of zero velocity
• The total energy of the spacecraft is -C/2
• The spacecraft can only access the region with C’>C
• In the Earth-Moon system a body orbiting the Earth with
- C>C1: is confined to orbit the Earth
- C1>C>C2: can reach the Moon
- C2>C>C3: can escape the system from the Moon side
- C3>C>C4: can escape from both sides
- C4>C: can go everywhere
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