Sensitivity analysis of the orbital motion around 469219 Kamo'oalewa (2016 HO3) to uncertainties on asteroid mass and solar radiation pressure

Feng, Jinglang and Hou, Xiyun and Di Lizia, Pierluigi and Armellin, Roberto and Santeramo, Daniele Antonio (2022) Sensitivity analysis of the orbital motion around 469219 Kamo'oalewa (2016 HO3) to uncertainties on asteroid mass and solar radiation pressure. Advances in Space Research, 69 (3). pp. 1602-1618. ISSN 0273-1177 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2021.11.035)

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Abstract

This study investigates the robustness of orbital motion in the vicinity of the asteroid 469219 Kamo'oalewa (2016 HO3) considering the uncertainties of its mass and the solar radiation pressure. By applying the automatic domain splitting algorithm, these uncertainties are propagated and their effects on orbits with different geometries are investigated. Moreover, the bounds of the state flow are also evaluated along the propagation as an indicator of the motion sensitivity to uncertainties. An analysis of the results obtained shows that polar orbits are more robust to these uncertainties than equatorial and inclined orbits. Specifically, the solar terminator orbit is bounded within a small range and has the best robustness among all the polar orbits, thus can be used for practical mission purposes. Our studies prove that robust orbits exist even for very small bodies with weak gravity fields. Therefore, this work contributes to systematically identifying robust motions near an asteroid when uncertainties of the gravity and the SRP are simultaneously considered, addressing the challenge of real mission operations.

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